Memories Of Yesterday And Today
by The Last Z Fighter
Summary: Slight AU What if Irene, Karman, Moses and Solomon had lived to the end of the series? Kai struggles raising the twins while a new enemy makes themselves known. Will Kai and the other's be enough while Saya sleeps? This is their legacy. Their story.
1. That Morning

**Authors Notes: **This fanfiction is dedicated in memory of Irene and other's, who I felt got the short end of the stick during the show. This is simply a 'what if' had Irene lived and not had died as well as Moses, Karman and Solomon who live through the main series as well. They got killed which I thought was unfair especially since I felt they had a lot of things that could have been explored, which I will try to do this fan fic.

It's AU so it doesn't follow the events of the show completely, I honestly stopped watching the show shortly after Irene and Riku died. It was to depressing.

* * *

A year had passed since the defeat of Diva, and during that time thing's seemed to change dramatically while something's still stayed the same. Riku, was dead now having been killed by Diva during their journey that seemed so long ago now. The death seemed surreal almost like it hadn't happened but it wouldn't go away completely no matter how much time had passed forward. Kai supposed, that those type of thing's would never completely go away, he still had nightmares of his father dying.

David and Julia finally seemed to be getting closer to each other(it was about time Kai had said himself repeatedly) and had plans to get married sometime in the near future. Mao and Akihiro were still traveling with Lulu and would send him pictures of the places and things they had seen. It had been about a month or so since he had heard anything from them but he knew he knew they were all right. They did after all have Lulu with them.

Kai slowly rose up from his bed, his red hair a disheveled mess that covered his eyes. He reached into a nearby box and opened it slowly; a single red gem in the middle. Gently, he picked it up and looked at it for a long time before putting it back. It was the only thing left of his brother after Diva crystalized him for some sick reason. _I miss you little brother. It would have been you're birthday today..._

Shaking his head, he rubbed away a tear with his sleeve, it almost had came out of nowhere. He still wasn't completely over his brother's death but time had eased the pain, somewhat anyway. Kai had two, or rather three things that kept him going, Irene, the girls and this restaurant his father had previously owned before his death. It had been fortunate they had been able to save Irene from falling victim to the thorn, thanks to Julia and her vigilant research. She was, however the only survivor of the Sif besides Lulu, Moses and Karman now. The rest had fallen victim to a weapon or the thorn.

"Kai? Are you ok?" An soft female voice called, the door creaking open slightly revealing a young woman with blonde hair. Irene hadn't changed much in the year, physically anyway. Her hair was in the same style and while she didn't _look_much different from before, she changed a bit mentally.

"I'm fine, I just slept in late." Kai said lamely so she wouldn't worry though he knew she would anyway. "I'll be out in a minute, just let me get dressed." Reluctantly, Irene left him to his own thoughts after softly closing the door behind her.

The young man got himself dressed for today, putting on some casual street clothes and paused looking at one of the old pictures on the dresser. It was when Saya, Riku and dad had taken a picture sometime before the whole mess with the Chiropteran, those had been more innocent times. _That's over now. I have to look forward not back. _It was something much easier said then done but he was going to get through it. The kids and everyone else were counting on him, he couldn't afford to mope around to much.

Most people would have been surprised that he had taken in Diva's children after what she had done to Riku. Kai however thought it differently, it wasn't their fault and in a way they were really the only blood family he had left and they did remind him of his little brother. He would protect the twins with his life if he had to, he sure as hell wasn't going to let another member of his family die if he could help it.

Kai walked out the door, noticing how quite it was. _Not that it'll last long. _He thought to himself slightly amused, knowing the twins Akira and Ayame had a very healthy pair of lungs and knew how to use them. Careful not to wake them up, he softly opened the door to spy on the twins sleeping soundly on the bed. They were both out like a light and more or less dead to the world, just like a certain other person he knew._They really do look like a female version of Riku. Looks you're dad spit both you out.. We'll, guess it's time to open up shop._

Leaving the children for the time being, Kai headed down the stairs as the chilly air greeted him, reminding him how much he disliked winter. Two people were already down stairs, Irene and one of his new employee's named Ryo who was in charge of the bar for the most part. He didn't know to much about him except that he worked for Red Shield, but he did a decent bar tending job. Kai was very careful on just who was brought around the girls, raising children was by no means an easy task.

"Morning." Kai's voice lazily drawled, stifling a small yawn, rubbing his eyes to get what was left of the sleep out of his eye. "How you feeling today Irene?"

"Good." Irene had been half-distracted by something in the kitchen, it still amused Kai slightly that even now she could be entertained by some of the most simple of things. Maybe her near death experience added with her natural personality made it possibly, so he thought anyway.

"Not gonna ask me how I am?" Ryo asked with mock hurt.

"You're fine." Kai said casually. "Probably don't need anymore attention to blow up that ego of yours anymore."

"Very funny." Was the sarcastic response.

"So, anything new?" Kai reached into the nearby fridge, and was disappointed to find not much worth eating making it occur to him that it was probably time to go shopping. Not that he was looking forward to doing that sort of thing.

"You're reporter friend called earlier. Something important he wanted to talk you about, left a message or something. I think he's coming over today." Ryo shrugged, taking a rather savage bite of his doughnut, jelly spilling out of it. Kai was sure he was going to get over weight if he kept those type of eating habits up, but what ever it was none of his business as long as he got his job done.

_Great, if Okamura is coming that means Mao is coming to._ Not that he really had anything truly against them, it was simply Mao was the type of person he liked to take in small doses, like his cold medicine. Okamura, on the other hand simply teased him about Irene and other things, he was never malicious and it was always in good fun and humor.(at least on his end) If anything Kai guessed that was the closes thing he would have to an older brother.

"Kai, I can't make this work." Kai turned to see the Sif trying to figure out how the blender worked. In fact, it looked like she had taken the liberty to try it out herself, making a huge mess because the top hadn't been put on.

"No Irene. You forgot the top." Kai came over, normally he would have been a bit more pissed but she hadn't had to learn these seemingly simple things back where she was born. It was all up to him to teach her everything, he simply reminded himself that he had to be patient. Once she was shown something a few times, she caught on pretty quickly on her own.

Seeing her slightly dejected expression, Kai added. "I'm not mad and don't worry about it, it's a small mistake nothing to worry about." He cleaned the orange mess with a nearby towel, rinsing it at least once before discarding the item. "Come closer and pay attention. You see, first thing you need to do is put what ever is you want to blend first. Then after that, you simply put the top back on."

During the whole time, Irene had focused her full attention on him and didn't say a single word until he finished demonstrating. Finally, she applied her new knowledge and got it right the first time. "Like..this?"

"Yea. Like that, good job. High five." Kai held out his hand while Irene looked at it confused before realization settled in, seeing this performed on many "T.V." programs. She returned the high five, but with a little to much force then she had intended. This made her immediately start to apologize to him knowing she had hurt him.

Kai winced, holding his arm, offering a smile, even if he felt like his arm was a wet noodle at the moment. "Hey don't worry I'm tougher then I look. We have to work on control like I mentioned earlier before is all."

"Thank you for showing me."

"Naw, there's no need to thank me now." Kai was about to continue when he saw no other then Okamura knocking on the door, Mao close behind. Shrugging after thinking of why they were here so early before the shop even opened the door. Both of them had on winter clothes to protect them from the cold, he almost didn't notice Lulu since she had been behind the two(much) taller people.

"Hey kid." The reporter in a friendly matter and Kai gave a simple half-greeting back. The reporter already took a seat and made himself at home. He almost reached for his pocket for some smokes out of habit, before remembering the kids were still inside. Besides, Mao would have kicked his ass if he had went through with it, so he banished the thought for the time being.

"Irene, look we got for you." Lulu went over to Irene excitedly with something wrapped up in a bundle paper.

"Hmm? This is.." Gently, she unwrapped what ever it was seeing a strange golden box with a symbol on it she had never seen before.

"It's a memory box." Mao's voice called out, moving closer. "You can put memories in it, like pictures and little knick knacks."

"That's pretty nice of you." Kai wasn't to surprised, Mao didn't seem to have a grudge against the girl anymore, rather she treated her more like a little sister. By the way Irene still acted at times, it wasn't that far from the truth. "So, what brings you three over here?"

"Just a visit." Okamura sipped some of his drink, placing it down. "We'll, to tell you the truth I found something to I wanted to show you. It's something_very_interesting I found on one our little trips."

"You mean what _we_found you mean." Mao corrected.

"Details."

_What could it be? And why do I care? _"All right, what is it?" Kai asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"I knew you'd come around. Take a lot at these." The middle-aged man reached into his pocket and pulled out some pictures which Kai took. "These were taken a month or so ago, from what I know of them."

The pictures seemed to be of murders, each more strange then the next. What really caught his eye was pictures of almost fossilized bodies, they clearly weren't human but they didn't resemble anything he had seen before either. "So you found some more stray Chiropteran. I don't see what the big deal is."

Okamura shook his head. "You're thinking to simple kid. Remember how Diva and Saya were discovered? This means, A. another original, or B. Something completely different. The body structure is different, more human, at least outwardly. Inside it's a mess."

"So you're saying it could be something else?" Mao asked, putting herself in the conversation whether she was welcomed or not. "Don't tell it's one of you're crazy theories again."

"It's _not_crazy. I mean the evidence is there something is going on. Strange murders have been going way up around Rome and other parts of the world. It only really started when these thing's were discovered-what ever you want to call em. To much of a coincidence for this to be happening for something not to be going on, don't you think?" Okamura knew he had won the argument that nothing was going on, judging by the look on their faces. He mentally pat himself on the back. _Looks like you still got it._

Kai shook his head. "I still don't know." _I really hope it's nothing, I don't want to risk losing what peace and stability I have left from another long fight._

"Mull over it then, kid." Okamura leaned more into his chair, deciding it was time for a change of subject. "On brighter news, Julia's first kid is doing pretty well. David isn't as stiff anymore." He was going to say, 'David didn't act like he had a stick shoved up his ass 24/7' but didn't want to corrupt Irene to early.

A strange look came on Irene's face after the statement. "Where did their baby come from?" It was actually a genuine question.

"You don't know?" Okamura started, "You see when a man and a woman love each other very much or had to much to drin-"

"Okamura!" Mao hissed, glaring at him. "Behave yourself!"

"Oh fine. I'll tell you about the birds and the bee's later Irene." Okamura didn't get to say anything else because Mao got mad at him, so he was forced to defend himself, either verbally or physically.

Kai simply put his head into his hands, it was going be a long day already.

* * *

Solomon was by no means an impatient man. In fact, it was very rare for him to become hasty.

That didn't mean he wasn't with out his limits.

The Chevalier duty-at the least these days was devoted over watching Saya and the twins. It had been her wish to see them live peacefully with out harm, so he would uphold that to the best of his ability. What was making him slightly impatient was someone had seemed to take an interest in the twins, a very startling interest at that. Solomon had his sources since he_still_did have his share of the large company, even if his brothers had all ceased to be. And while they were certainly good at their jobs, they were a bit slow on obtaining information he needed to have a better grasp at the situation.

All Solomon knew was that they were good at covering their tracks, they had to be to be able to hide away from him like this even with all his resources. Add the fact Solomon watched the twins like a watch dog and they were still able to stay under his nose bothered him. If he had at least some idea who he was dealing with it would make things that much easier.

It was settled then. In order to fulfill his duty and keep his word he would have to travel to Japan in order to keep an eye out on things. He had other people who could keep an eye out for his company anyway-not that he needed it like a human but it helped him in numerous ways. Pressing a button underneath his desk, a black-haired came a few minutes later, clipboard in hand.

"What do you need help with Sir?"

"I want to take the private jet." Solomon said, getting a coat from a nearby rack. "I'm heading to out-tell Croix he can keep things stable until my return."

Slightly startled, the woman couldn't help but ask. "Where are you going?"

"To Japan." Solomon replied, and like that he was gone.

* * *

**Authors Notes: **I don't know exactly where I'm going with this but I decided to make the chapter relatively short until I got a feel if people like this one or not. In the next chapter it will be revealed what Moses and Karman have been up to. Kai and the others are the main characters this go around. Constructive criticism is very much appreciated. 


	2. Faceless Enemy

Rain seemed to fit the mood he was in perfectly as he walked the streets of Paris like he had so many nights before. Haji liked the rain-it mirrored how he felt deep in his heart as of late when Saya peacefully slept. While only a short amount of time had passed, it had gone on for what seemed like a longer period. What was a year for most people was a century to him when Saya went into her hibernation period. But he remembered, Saya had wanted him to live for himself, wanted him to see and do things on his own.

If that's what she wanted he would gladly obey.

However, it had been so long he had truly been by himself that he was almost at a lost of what to do in a world that seemed to have moved past him. The Chiropterans had been less then active these days and Red Shield had special equipment to deal with them now. Making him somewhat obsolete. He felt like an old guard dog; lost and useless with no clue of whether he was going or staying. He just kept going.

Nothing was like it had been many years ago. When he had a family, things had been that much simpler then.

_No. It wasn't. _Haji reminded himself. There had been some problems even then and he realized even then he had felt lost in his direction with life. Only now he was certain of one thing, his complete devotion to Saya, but she wasn't here now. Still, he had to fulfill her wish and live on for himself for once, not for Saya, but Haji. This would take time as there were still many things the Chevalier had to think over about.

It was quite and peaceful that night at the least. The sky was completely cloudless and one could see the stars if they bothered looking closely enough. Suddenly, Haji became aware of someone or rather something following him not too far behind. Stopping for a moment, his black eyes focused on what looked like a small black dog, he couldn't tell if it was a puppy or a small breed. It had literally a century and something odd years before he had even had a 'pet' dog.

He was sure he knew what the creature wanted, it seemed hungry and starved for some sort of attention in general. Haji thought only for a moment to ponder before slowly reaching into his pockets and pulling a small bit of food wrapped in plastic. While he certainly didn't _need_human food, a woman from earlier had given it to him for free, saying he reminded her of her grandson. He wasn't sure if she had meant physically or personality wise, but he was thinking of the first.

"Here." Haji placed the food down and the dog devoured the thing hungrily like it hadn't eaten in days which might be the truth. He turned to walk away but the dog began following him, wagging its tail which swayed back and forth. This was expected after feeding the animal and he was about to lose the creature when he thought against it. Saya had liked dogs, more so then him and strangely this one reminded him of the one he had. The dog reminded him of himself, lost until someone else had come along, it would be wrong to lose a kindred spirit.

Wordlessly, Haji continued his trek into the night with his brand-new companion in tow. The night was still young and there was much to see so he could tell Saya all he saw when she finally awakened.

* * *

Moses hadn't foreseen things would have turned out this way in the end, he supposed no one truly knew how things would turn out in the future. He didn't think he would live this long and while he was ashamed he had given up hope, things hadn't looked to hopeful a year ago. Now here he and Karman were, living in a large mansion with a former member of Red Shield. She was a kindly old lady and treated himself and Karman like family. Even Karman admitted she wasn't all that bad which was a step in the right direction. 

Thanks to Julia's research, they could now live without fear of the Thorn and were even able to finally do something simple such as a walk in the sun.(though they their powers were weaker during the day slightly). She had said she wouldn't be able to stop it completely and that they would roughly have a life-span of a long-lived human but Moses didn't mind. Living eternally from what he had seen seemed more like a curse then a blessing in his eyes. Then again, he wouldn't know for sure since his life in this world had been so short.

Occasionally, Moses and Karman would go to visit Irene just to see how she was doing and sometimes even Lulu would drop by to check up on them. Moses had noted that Karman, while probably never admitting it openly had some grudging respect for Kai, if only because Irene held him in such high regards so he couldn't be that bad. His hot-headed friend had mellowed his temper a bit but it was still there for those foolish enough to rekindle it. At least Karman was slowly starting to accept the idea of not all humans being bad, Kai and the other's were quite different from the cold and emotionally detached ones back in their birth place.

The retired Red Shield member taught Moses and Karman many things besides the rough basics such as math, the name of cities, history. It was all so new to both of the Sif that they found themselves eager to learn these new things. Karman was a bit impatient in the lessons, only because he wanted to learn something new after shortly grasping the basics. The leader of the Sif was more patient then his friend, comprehending the new knowledge and trying to apply it in some sort of way to everyday life. After that, he would move onto the next subject. They were learning how to live and growing each day instead of simply surviving.

It was a nice change of pace. He would even admit that.

Both of them had taken interest in different things, Moses developed a fascination with fictional stories while Karman seemed to have taken a liking to the history of weapons. It seemed to fit the two personality-wise, Moses was more calm and Karman was still very much a fighter at heart whether it be the literal or figurative sense of the word.

It was an amusing experience when Karman was taught how to drive not to long ago using one of the old ladies sports cars. The Sif had scoffed at the thought of using one of that human things-until, he realized the beauty and power in those lovely pieces of metal, maybe a little too much in fact. Karman had pushed the Viper to its limits and though they had gone to an open field that still didn't stop the feeling they were going to painfully crash multiple times. The poor middle-aged gentlemen had nearly had a heart attack and hadn't bothered teaching them. Moses himself decided he wouldn't be in the same car. This seemed to have tickled the old woman for some reason, so as a project she gave Karman some tools to help restore an older sports car.

Suffice to say even then he wasn't allowed near a car in the meantime.

Most of the time they would be left alone to their own devices during the day, at least when the owner of the mansion went out to visit family. Moses and Karman showed their gratitude by keeping the place protected while she was gone, there had been an attempt to break in once before, but after encountering the two male Sif, the burglar had been sent quite literally packing. No one bothered the place after that, saying the place was 'haunted' and other such stories.

Moses was sparring with Karman, but more to keep his fellow Sif busy more then anything. But it was for another reason as well, they both wanted to be strong enough to protect what was left of their kind. Karman had come up with the idea and the old woman, hearing of it gave them non lethal but hard metal weapons that resembled their normal weapons for practice in their training. It soon became somewhat of a routine. They would practice in the morning and in the afternoon in the courtyard, sometimes their hostess would watch them and other times it was nothing but the two of them.

Nobody was able to see the two warriors, and if they did they had been surprised. It wasn't everyday humans got to see blue blurs that almost like a scene from a comic book or an anime show. The sound of metal clashing onto an equally hard surface was heard as Karman and Moses almost seemed to dance around the courtyard, replica weapons in hand. The scythe and spear respectively.

No side seemed to be gaining ground, in fact they seemed to be about even in terms of power this time around. Moses had to work to keep Karman on the ropes and vice versa, they both had grown in power within the year considerably and probably even had a chance against a Chevalier, unlike in the past where it would have taken two or three just to defeat one. It would have still been a rough fight, but they now stood a chance vs. one in single combat.

"Stand still." Karman was getting frustrated slightly at his inability to land another hit on his leader, it was about even but it had been twenty minutes and no side had landed another blow.

"That defeats the purpose." Moses smoothly leaned back as the fake spear passed through empty space where he had been, scythe coming upwards for a cross slash. Karman saw the attack coming a mile away, vanishing and leaving a blue-trail like most Sif did when using their speed.

"You're mine!" The voice came from above him as Karman brought the blunt spear down to finally end the sparring match. Moses calculated it in an instant, and as the weapon came from inches from him, he side stepped, bringing his own weapon to bear. It was to close for Karman to act and the fact he was still with the momentum of his earlier attack didn't help either. Moses' scythe came to claim the match, knocking the spear out of his friends hand which landed with a loud clang some feet away.

"Good match my friend." The fake scythe had been pressed lightly onto Karman's neck before he swiftly retracted it.

Retreating to pick up his weapon, Karman turned to him. "I'm going to beat you one day, you just wait and see."

At that, he had to keep from smiling. "We'll see." Moses turned to look up at the sky. "We should head back in now." Karman silently agreed and both of them placed the fake weapons in a rack on the wall in the courtyard. It wasn't as if someone was going to steal them, and even if they did they could always make different ones-they were after all fakes.

Moses paused in mid-step before entering the house, feeling a strange chill that hadn't come from the winter air.

"What's wrong?" Karman stopped when he noticed Moses wasn't coming.

"No. It's nothing." Moses reassured him and hesitantly headed back inside the place. He couldn't help but feel a sense of dread, and it scared him that he had no idea just what had caused that feeling.

* * *

Over all at the end of the day, Kai was glad Mao, Lulu and Okamura had come to visit them. They were pleasant company despite all their quirks and they had all had grown on him considerably since their large adventure some time ago. That had only been a year ago but they shared some old memories back and forth with each other. Naturally, some parts were on the touchy side so they were clearly avoided, but there had been some fun times as well. 

Time passed by quickly for everyone, even Ryo had gone home to his family but they still played catch up even as time faded into the later hours of the night. Mao was off to the corner explaining something to Irene-Kai wasn't sure what it was or even if he wanted to know. Okamura seemed to be content watching a sports game on the worn out T.V. they had for everyone to see. Every time his team started to lose, it would look like he would want to curse but couldn't-since Mao would chew him out. Instead, he would tightly hold onto something and watch the screen anxiously, that couldn't be good for his heart.

Kai was cleaning up along with Lulu, the customers hadn't even bothered trying to be clean and it was like cleaning up after the twins after they had gotten a meal. Not that he minded, it gave him something to do while everyone enjoyed each other's company, except for the reporter who seemed to be enjoying his own personal company with the T.V. at the moment._Dad, I wonder what you would think of me now? Would you be proud? _The twins were his family by blood, but as he watched the people around the shop, he realized these were apart of his family just as much as they were. They had been through much together that a year ago and had bled and cry together, being a blood-relative wasn't all it was cracked out to be. Diva and Saya were a testament to that.

No, family was something not quite easily explained but you knew what was. That's what Kai thought.

He noticed something standing behind the door of the building. It was impossible to make out their physical features, the only thing he could tell was that they were tall and their shadow stood over menacingly. _How long have they been standing there? _Frankly, Kai was a bit unnerved by the whole thing. True, he wasn't a slouch when it came to fighting anymore and they had two Sif with them but it still managed to make him be on edge. Just something _screamed_whoever the stranger was had to be extremely dangerous. All of his instincts were telling him as much.

Lulu seemed to notice Kai had stopped working. "What's wrong Kai?"

"Someone's just standing out there." Kai muttered. "I don't like it. May-" That was as far as his sentence got before the door suddenly was torn off like tin foil, the rest it coming toward him at a fast speed. Kai being a human, was far too slow to react in time but Lulu wasn't and was able to grab him and force them both to the ground.

The stranger was a tall humanoid thing, Kai decided instantly they weren't human-the way they had broken in proven that much. They wore a long black trench coat, black gloves with boots, their face looked human except for the completely and eerie blank emotionless expression they were. Calmly and steady, they walked through the broken down entrance, foot making a crushing sound as they stepped onto broken glass. Okamura, of course freaked out and tried to keep himself far away from the thing as possible, Irene had stood up calmly, though her body was a bit tense, as was Lulu's now. Mao kept some distance behind the blonde-haired Sif, she was used to these sort of thing's to an extent but that didn't make it any less scary.

"What do you want?" Kai growled, cursing himself for locking up his gun in a box. He thought he wouldn't need it any time soon, but he had been proven wrong.

"_**The queens."**_ They said in a monotone, and kept coming ignoring everyone in the room as they tried to go straight where the twins were. The voice wasn't spoken, it was heard through out the entire room in their head sounding like a distorted whisper. This made Kai's hair stand on end.

"Like hell you will!" Kai realized what he was after, and letting his emotions cloud his judgement charged forward. A stupid move considering what he had done to the door but he tended to act first think later when it came to family. Before he even reached his opponent, their hand came out impossibly fast that a human eye wouldn't have even see it. Kai was lifted up easily with one hand, but he struggled to get out of the creature's grip with no success. Feeling the air slowly chocked out of him.

"Let him go!" Lulu became a streak of blue, moving to attack as well. To his credit, he did let Kai go, throwing him at the incoming Sif and they both crashed hard against the wall like toys.

Irene had seen enough to determine that he was a threat, she didn't have her weapon with her so she would have to rely on her natural skills and strength. While she disliked fighting in general, she wasn't going to let anyone hurt her friends. Her hand became a chiropteran claw as she lunged forward, to her surprise he didn't even _try_to move out the way and it was soon discovered why. As her sword arm pierced his stomach, it made a hole but there was no blood at all almost as if he didn't have any to begin with.

Not giving her a chance to recover, he grabbed her hand and began adding pressure crushing them with a disturbing _pop_noise making her cry out in pain.

Mao didn't have any powers or even training but she couldn't let Irene get killed by this freak. Thinking on her feet, she looked for the nearest thing she could use to improvise with. A vase stood on a lone table, she would have preferred a knife or something but it would have to do. She tossed it at the thing's head, the glass shattering as water spilled onto 'its' face. Surprisingly it let Irene go, after tossing she to Mao who caught her was knocked off her feet with the force of and momentum of the throw.

Strangely, the water from the vase seemed to have some effect on it and the sound of sizzling could be heard as it burned its flesh, the unpleasant smell added to this as well. It wasn't much water from the vase to begin with so it soon got over the surprise attack, though it didn't stop the single-minded mission of going after the twins. The thing's face had melted away, showing the real face underneath, turning out to be completely faceless with no eyes or mouth. As if they were never there to begin with.

"Irene! The water! That it's weakness!" Mao had gotten up by this time, though she was still a bit wobbly from the throw still.

Taking a silent note of this, Irene grabbed the nearest water supply, a cup of half drunken water Okamura had used earlier. Both Sif appeared in front of the stranger monster in a last attempt to protect the twins. It continued its slow and deliberate walk as if they weren't there, even when water was thrown at it, it had no effect like the last time. It grabbed both girls by the throat, lifting them off the ground tossing them though the walls. This wouldn't kill them but it would keep both Sif out of action long enough.

"You bastard!" Kai hadn't just been sitting around, he had gotten his hand gun, the one used for hunting Chiropterans. He fired, making the monster flinch somewhat and even making some holes in its body. The body itself didn't crystalize and all the wounds that were inflicted on it, faster then anything he had seen even on his journey. _What the hell?_

Vanishing in a dark wisp of energy, Kai lost track of the thing until it appeared right in front of him holding the gun. He fired more out of desperation then anything until the light click sound as his pistol came on empty. Almost comically, it looked down at him as if to say, 'Are you done yet?' Then, it crushed his gun without effort before hitting Kai with enough force to knock him back and unconscious. He was too stubborn to stay down even then. _No, not again. I can't, fail again I promised.._

Ignoring the downed human, it went up stairs easily dispatching Okamura who had tried to get the girls out of the area. Moments later, it came back slowly down with a crying pair of twins. Kai forced his unwilling and beaten body to move even if it was telling him to stay down, he grabbed the kidnapper's leg. "Stop. Please don't take them." He pleaded, even though he knew they wouldn't listen to him. Carelessly, it shrugged off the young man and disappeared either out of pure speed or teleporting he couldn't be sure.

_Riku, I'm sorry I let you down again. _Kai felt his vision darken from the trauma of his wounds. And then everything faded to black as he went unconscious, the last thing he saw was Irene and Mao rushing towards him.

* * *

**Author Notes: **Reviews aren't everything, so I keep telling myself. It's very hard to get into Haji's head so to speak but I tried. I just hope I did a half decent job at it. As the chapters go on, I'll try to keep things more detailed, my first chapters are always the most rocky for me before I 'warm up' so to speak. 


	3. Turning Point

_How long had it been since he payed his father a visit? Kai was ashamed because he couldn't exactly remember and there was no excuse for it now that his long journey had now come to an end just months ago. There was no reason now why he couldn't visit his family, his father, and Riku deserved that much at least. He knew the answer deep down why he hadn't gone even when he had the chance, it brought back both negative and positive memories at the same time. Still, Kai couldn't and he wouldn't run away from it any longer, he had to face it._

_Slowly, he stopped walking when he arrived at three graves-one of his father and the other of his little brother Riku. They didn't even truly have a body to burry but a grave was made anyway in his memory even so. For a long time, he stood no sure of anything as he felt a number of mixed emotions that time had only healed to a small extent. _

"_Hey..Sorry I haven't been around to visit lately. I guess I was trying to avoid it." Kai started slowly. "There's a lot that's happened I'm not even sure where to start_._It's over dad, that's the good news. The fighting between humans and Chiropteran that is, there's still some out there but not nearly as much. Saya's doing good, she's stronger now, not just physically but mentally too, I think you would've been proud. She's sleeping now and I won't see her for a while but I know she can finally rest easier now."_

"_I met a lot of friends on my trip, and there even with me now. I think you would have liked__ them, some actually started off as enemies before becoming friends. Funny how things work huh? But that's one of the thing's you taught me Saya and Riku, to expect the unexpected." Kai smiled slightly, imaging what they would say. "One of them lives with me now, her name is Irene. No its mot like that dad, she's just a good friend. I think you would have liked her to though..._"

_Kai felt something wet slowly come from his eyes and slowly wiped them away. Tears? He thought he was over this by now, he guessed he was wrong._

_Unnoticed to Kai_,_a blue streak appeared behind them as the form of Irene became visible. He didn't seem to notice her presence at first, lost in his thoughts. She was unsure how to approach him, how to comfort him as badly as she wanted to. The Sif stood there for a long time silent before deciding on something, slowly walking behind Kai and gently putting a hand on his shoulder. She wasn't sure if it would help or even if she was doing it right but it felt...natural._

_Not a word was spoken between the two, and neither really knew what to say to one another so the silence was decidedly comforting. Kai seemed to take some measure of comfort just by her presence alone, his body relaxed. _

"_What was he like? You're father. What was he like?"_

_Kai was slightly surprised at the question but only for a moment and then slowly smiled. "My old man, he was something else. He was really kind and wise, he taught me Saya and...Riku a lot of what we know now." The last part was said a bit painfully but it had been dulled over the years. "I try to follow in his foot steps but I'm not sure if I can."_

_Irene was silent as he spoke and waited until he finished before saying anything. "Then maybe you should follow your own path, as Kai. He would have been proud of you if he saw you today, wouldn't he?"_

_Just when he thought he had figured Irene out, she would surprise him. He guessed he shouldn't have been surprised, his father always said people could surprise you no matter how long you knew them. A slow smile formed on his lips, Irene seemed to be able to do that often to him. "Yea. He would. Let's go home Irene, I'm done today." Both of them began walking away but Kai noticed something on Riku's grave he hadn't seen before causing him to stop._

_A pink rose with one of Haji's hair ribbons tied around it._

"_Thank you Haji.." Kai__ softly said and then turned to catch back up with Irene._

* * *

The group had made it to the hospital with less then happy spirits, everyone was rather solemn after what had happened. Kai had been rushed off to the emergency room and the rest of his friends were not waiting, anxiously and impatiently. No one knew what to say to one another and an awkward and heavy silence had fell onto the party. Okamura was busy pretending playing with a card was the most interesting thing in the world, a black eye and a bruise but otherwise the reporter would live to tell another story. Sitting in one of the waiting chairs, Lulu looked like she wanted to say something but bit her tongue for once. Irene was silent, looking down at her hands and at nothing in particular at the same time. She had taken what happened the worse and most of the other's were at a lost how to comfort her. Mao, was nowhere to be found but she had ran off to 'talk' to one of the doctors about Kai's condition. 

"I'm sure he'll be ok." Lulu said, gathering her will to speak. "Kai's been through worse."

Silent for another moment, the other Sif spoke softly though Lulu would still be able to hear it thanks to her senses. "I let him down. I let the twins be taken away and now he's hurt. This is..this is the second time.."

Shifting a bit uncomfortably, Lulu knew she was referring to the time when Diva had..did that thing to Riku. She still didn't understand all the details with her mind-set but she understood enough that it had been horrible, it seemed to have left some mark on Kai and Irene even now. It was true Irene hadn't known the boy that long, but he had left an impression in that short period of time. It didn't take years for someone to make an impact on you're life, something that had proved upon Kai and Irene's first meeting. She didn't know how to comfort her friend, so she remained silent for now.

Irene kept her thoughts largely to herself but everyone could tell she was effected heavily by everything, it showed on her face and the way she carried herself. The young woman would never be good at hiding her emotions, at least not completely. This place, the hospital were they 'cured' people reminded her of Khirbet in a way. Which in turn only added to her uncomfortable time waiting. The smells reeked of something unfamiliar and unpleasant to her, all coming from different parts of the building. More then that, she could smell the scent of the dying and the sick and the faint feeling of hopelessness of the place made it where she would rather be anywhere but here if Kai wasn't in there waiting-alone.

Irene decided she hated this place. What it felt like rather then what it was supposed to be.

But as bad as she felt, what about Kai? He had lost and been through so much and now to have the twins taken away from him, no them now was harsh. This wasn't fair to any of them, but she was learning or maybe she knew from the very beginning life wasn't easy or fair. The fight had been far to one-sided, she had been completely powerless against this new enemy what ever they were. Had the peace and lack of fighting made her weaker? She wasn't sure. Irene didn't like fighting, she had only did it in Khirbet because she had no other choice but now it didn't matter. The battle had come to her instead, on their door step catching them unaware. Maybe..Maybe this was simply apart of her life that would never go away.

Looking to see what the others were doing, who for their part seemed to be trying to occupy themselves with unimportant things as they awaited news of Kai. These people were apart of her family now just as the Sif are. Irene realized that perhaps it wasn't living peacefully that had caused her to get weaker, instead it was an effect of having others to worry about besides herself. That's what was different now, not having to fight on a constant basis and balancing simply living.

"Y'know.." Okamura voice came to distract her from her thoughts. "When somethings bothering me and I'm waiting for it sometimes helps to do minor things." He fished out a deck of cards. "Like these for example, my best friends besides T.V., smokes among other things."

Tilting her head lightly, she looked at the cards. "I never played."

"You my young friend need to hang around me more." He shuffled the cards for a moment. "I'll start off with a simple game and then we'll move from there. I was-"

"Please calm down miss."

"You said I could-"

"No we said you could wait outside the door. Now please, take a seat. They will be with you in a moment."

Okamura had cut himself off when he noticed how 'friendly' Mao was being, which meant they had gotten into an argument and got pissed off at something. But what was new? As far as his opinion went, she was almost _always _pissed about one thing or another. Not that he would say that little comment out loud right now like he would normally. He had gotten thrashed by the freaky thing with out a face and he didn't need any more wounds at the moment.

"Who do they think they are?!" Mao ranted angrily to no one specifically as she came back to the waiting group. "With the way their acting you'd think Kai was dying." She realized her mistake a little to late, Irene got an hard to read expression on her face while Lulu just looked more worried.

"Nice Mao." Was Okamura's response as his trade mark sarcastic comments came into play.

"Shut up." The girl turned to Irene. "I'm sorry I didn't mean Kai was in that bad of shape I just.." Mao wasn't sure what to say and for once, shut her mouth knowing she had done enough.

"It's ok." Irene's voice sounded normal but quite, again everyone went silent for a moment.

"Aren't you friends of Kai?" An old voice distracted them from their unpleasant thoughts as an older gentlemen came into view. "He's a bit weak right now but fine. He just needs some rest, it's a miracle he didn't have any broken bones from what our X-rays showed."

Everyone followed the doctor until he lead them to one of the rooms, opening it for them and simply letting them through with out a word. He thought about telling them about only staying for a little while before they had to leave but thought against it, they needed time. "I'll be back to further check up him." He said simply, and like that the doctor was gone.

Kai didn't look to bad but he had defiantly seen better days. His skin was a bit pale and bruises were on various parts of his body, Okamura was surprised none of his bones had been broken as well come to think of it. Considering how they were able to break through a strong door and man handle two Sif, it was a feat worthy in itself however impossible or baffling.

As they stood there, Kai looked at the group. Irene seemed both relieved and worried at the same time, Lulu with her cheery expression and Mao, well being herself he guessed. Then there was Okamura, a black eye and a bruise near his forehead that wasn't going away anytime soon. The first thing that came out of Kai's mouth wasn't something anyone was expecting.

"Okamura. You look like crap."

At first no one responded, then Okamura began chuckling and oddly everyone else did(well almost everyone). Whether it was actually funny to them was unimportant, Kai had broken the heavy mood and that was what the group needed at the moment.

Once the tension had been lifted somewhat, Kai spoke again in a more somber tone. "Where are the twins?"

"That thing took them kid I'm sorry." Okamura thought he should be the one to break the news, most likely against his better judgement.

Kai was quite for a long time, everyone was expecting him lash out or curse but surprisingly he took a deep breath instead, closing his eyes. If he broke down in front of everyone, everybody else would fall apart and if they did then nothing would get done. His father had always been strong for his family; like the single rock that defied the ocean waves, unmoving and unchanging. _I'll be their rock. _He thought to himself.

"We'll get them back." Was the first thing that came out of his mouth, a determined tone taking over. "Their still alive I know that much, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered taking the time to take them. We just need to find them."

Everyone was slightly surprised by the lack of an outburst, at least Okamura and Mao were since they hadn't been long enough to see his own personal growth.

"We'll said." The reporter could have clapped but that would have ruined the moment. "Course, it would be a bad idea to discuss 'things' here with so many people around. The problem would be finding out where our special friend could have taken them. That and..." Okamura counted on his fingers. "And travel money, lots of it. My hunch is we'll be traveling a lot after this thing." He felt excited despite himself, things had gotten a hell lot more interesting with this mysterious faceless enemy.

"Your hunches got us into plenty of trouble to." Mao politely pointed out.

He ignored her good humor, putting both hands behind his head."Hey, three out of five is pretty good intuition if you ask me. Besides, I _know_this time something big is in the works. I can almost taste it."

The door began to open and instantly everyone stopped talking as someone stepped into the room, blonde short hair with a business suit instantly gave him away. It was surprising he was here at the current moment. Kai was the first one to speak.

"Solomon?"

* * *

Karman and Moses had encountered a creature unlike anything they had run into before earlier. It had been lurking around the mansion and had instantly drawn the two male Sif to it. The presence of the thing alone felt twisted and wrong alone, they couldn't understand why it gave them that feeling. Maybe it was due to the fact they weren't human they could sense of malevolent-like presence from the creature. What ever the case had been, they never got a chance to see what the thing had been, it escaped them the last time they had chased it. 

So now they waited on the roof tops for the creature to return like it had done in the past, only this time they would corner it. Both of the Sif were back in their robes instead of the casual clothing they had gotten used to wearing, an sign they were determined. It was rare these days to see any of the Sif back in the same clothes that had become more or less an uniform to them now.

Karman was anxious, his grip on his weapon never lessened as they headed towards their destination which happened to be Kai's pub. Moses was silent as well as they stalked through the shadows as if they were apart of it itself, moving with precise and quick movements. They stopped once they reached the entrance of the pub, or rather what was left of it. The door had been kicked with great force, and instantly they went to investigate.

From the looks of things, a battle had taken place. Tables were broken in half and splintered, chairs were messed up beyond recognition, and the walls had been hit with something hard leaving a large impact.

"Irene, Lulu!" Karman looked around, not seeing them or anyone else but knowing they had been here due to their scent. He wouldn't admit it but he was worried about others as well.

Moses stepped over some broken glass as he surveyed their surroundings, hood covering over his face. "What ever did this must have been powerful." He walked up to look at a strange thing on the ground, picking it up. It was almost like saw dust but wasn't, he didn't know what it was.

Suddenly, Karman's head jerked up and he looked towards one of the nearby closes buildings. Standing there was a figure, silent and waiting. Growling, the Sif's temper got the better of him as his formed turned blue as he appeared on the same roof top at the stranger. Moses appeared along side him moments later in a dull blue flash of light.

"You there! Did you do this?!" Karman pointed his weapon at the intruder, who simply turned to face them. They looked almost like a normal human, except humans didn't carry swords about eight feet long. Another abnormal characteristic was that they wore a drama mask often seen in plays, it's features permanently etched into a creepy smile.

It stood there for a moment, and then ignoring them jumped to the other roof top and began running away. Karman growled again and soon gave chase with his friend close in tow. They followed the thing relentlessly, occasionally it would spar against its pursuers when it was cornered but otherwise seemed to have another objective in mind.

Finally, the strange thing stopped running and stood to face the two. Karman and Moses soon appeared again but before the hot-headed Sif could charge, Moses gave a word of warning to him. "Let's not be reckless. We have no idea what this monster is capable of. It's not a Chiropteran."

"I know. Its still not going to get away, I'll make sure of it." Karman, then blurred forward, Moses close behind as they coordinated their attacks to end the fight quick and efficiently. Having no idea what it was or what it could do, it would be better to play it safe. As soon as they got into striking distance, their opponent swung the massive sword horizontally in an attempt to slice them in half. Years of experience was what saved them from being cut into half as they adjusted themselves in mid-air to avoid the blow.

Both Sif didn't bother hesitating to take advantage of any and all openings, so they quickly appeared behind their opponent and swung their weapons. A loud clang sound was heard as it was block by the over sized sword, but Moses had managed to nick it's face. The drama mask became undone and fell to the floor, revealing a faceless face. They didn't get much time to dwell on it before it pushed them with great strength, Karman regained his balance after landing on his feet and Moses did the same.

"What ever it is, its strong." Moses observed quietly. "However, that sword for its large length leaves it open slightly with each swing. We need to break its rhythm the next time it thrust and that will be our chance."

Karman nodded. The plan made sense. "Right. Leave it to me." He once again moved forward to attack it while Moses hung back for a moment waiting for the opening. Once more, the creature swung in an attempt to dice him to pieces, only this time from above. The leader of the Sif saw the brief break in its defense and capitalized on it. A streak of blue and a silver flash later, Moses appeared on the opposite side, Scythe in hand. The body of the creature was stiff, before it slowly fell apart, Moses had cut the lower body in half. Strangely, there was no blood or anything of that sort and it soon turned to ash which resembled saw dust.

Moving to the deceased foe, Moses watched the mask-the only thing left that the creature had existed in the first place.

"Just what the hell was that thing anyway?" Karman said.

Moses frowned. "I don't know. I honestly don't know. Let's find Irene and the others, we should check to see if there safe."

* * *

**Authors Notes: **I would like to thank those who have taken the time to review, I appreciate it. Anyway, I'm looking for a Beta reader so if anyone is interested then you can contact me via e-mail that's located on my account. Why did Moses and Karman have such an easy time with the monster? We'll, it will be explained pretty soon its just because. 


	4. What Is Hidden

"Solomon?"

After Kai had spoken there was silence that had once again settled onto the group. Okamura was visibly nervous, if only because he was Diva's ex Chevalier. Irene and Lulu were for once a bit hard to read while Mao glared at the gentlemen; fist tightly clinched. Kai honestly didn't know what to think. It was true he had sworn his loyalty to Saya and no longer had ties to Diva but he couldn't help but be untrusting.

Solomon didn't answer at first, gauging the semi-hostile reactions from the group. Not counting Mao, who looked at him with something close to loathing. It should have been expected. This was going to take some time to ease the suspicion and general distrust from his former life. He took a careful step forward but not to close; doing so now might cause the two Sif to take it the wrong way. After all, they had been, or rather were in a way still enemies. While he may not serve Diva anymore, the fact remained he had still killed two Sif.

"What do _you_ want?" Mao growled out as she lost her well known patience.

"I had a feeling something was amiss, so I came here to follow my instinct." Solomon said in his normal pleasant tone like Mao hadn't said it that way. "Originally, I was going to simply check up on the twins and be on my way, until I discovered what happened. I think we can help each other."

Kai closed his eyes, thinking. "Answer me honestly, why are you helping us? I mean, Saya isn't awake right now and the twins have nothing to do with you."

The blonde-haired businessman looked into Kai's eyes. "It was Saya's wish that the twins grow up peacefully and live normal lives. I'm only trying to assure that. She cares for you like a brother, as such I also had to make sure you were all right and taken care of. Those are my two reasons for being here. With my resources I can help yo-"

"We don't need your help." Mao interrupted forcefully. Just looking at him made her blood boil, just anything with Diva did after what happened to Riku.

"Mao please. Let him finish." Kai said pleadingly.

The woman in question looked back at Kai, who had a pained subtle look in his eyes. The missing twins were hurting him even if he wouldn't project it out loud. Even if she wanted nothing to do with Solomon, the twins needed to come first. She would hear him out, though reluctantly. She sullenly sighed and looked away. "All right."

Solomon waited a bit longer before he continued. "I can help you locate the twins. It would be easier if we worked together. What do you say we put aside our differences, just this once?"

Kai thought about it. If it was just himself he wouldn't have hesitated as much but there were other people to think about He glanced at his companions. Okamura was silent, he seemed to take everything relatively well all things considering, Mao was obviously still not happy but was willing to go with what he said. Lulu and Irene were hard to gauge at first, but looking into their eyes he knew they trusted him and would go along with his decision.

Somehow this made things harder.

"How are you going to help us exactly?" Kai asked in an even tone finally.

"I plan to help you financially and with traveling. While you look for them I'll be searching on my end, we'll cover much more ground this way."

Kai was about to respond when the door creaked open, everyone looked towards the entrance and immediately stopped talking about the subject. The nurse seemed rather nervous that everyone was looking at her silently, maybe it was a bad time?

The nurse spoke timidly. "I hope this isn't a bad time but someone wanted to talk to you Mr. Kai. They said it was important and it had to do with your twins."

As soon as the word 'twins' came into play, Kai and the others interest went up. "Give me the phone."

"Uh ok." The nurse said, handing him the phone. "I'll be back to pick it up later." And with that she quickly left from the awkward situation. Kai felt kind of bad for sounding so rash but at the moment he didn't care, something about his kids had come up and he wasn't going to miss it.

He put the phone to his ear. "This is Kai speaking."

"_Ah. Wonderful. I've been dying to speak to you for sometime." _The voice on the other end was smooth and deep. _"Turn up the volume. I'd like everyone to hear."_

Kai did so before speaking again. "Where are the twins? And how do you know me?" He felt his already low patience give away to the stress of the situation, yet he tried to remain cool.

"_Tsk, tsk. Once question at a time my young friend. I know you simply because I've been keeping a careful eye on you and your precious babies. Their quite lovely specimens, if I do say so myself." _

The young man's grip on the phone tightened, almost to the point of breaking it. "Listen, if you did anything to hurt them I'll ma-"

"_You'll do nothing, or rather you can't because you know nothing about me. I guess that would make things difficult wouldn't it?" _The strangers tone was mildly amused. _"But in either case, they are out of my hands. You see, someone has taken those lovely specimens from underneath my nose. I don't know who or rather what they are but suffice to say we have a clashing of interest."_

This made Kai pause for a minute. "So they're not with you." It was just a statement confirming something instead of a question.

"_Your catching on quickly my friend. I know nothing about what took the two specimens, but my eyes told me about the little incident. Quite sloppy for them to be taken as they did but that's besides the point. They were last seen heading towards New York, according to my source."_

"If you know so much about them, why aren't you getting them yourselves and telling us. What do you gain in this?"

_There was a slight chuckle from the phone. "It seems you aren't as stupid as I thought. There are certain things preventing me from acting out in that way. By saving them you make it easier on me, lets just call it temporary mutual interest in something and leave it at that. Believe or disbelieve me is of no consequence, except for those poor children of course I guess. Its been fun, perhaps we will do this another time. I have to go, next time we will meet in the flesh." _

A light click ended the conversation between them.

Mao looked disgusted. "That asshole. Who does he think he is?"

"So, we going?" Okamura added. "It sounds like a trap. I mean the whole thing is awfully to convenient if you ask me."

"We don't have any other leads or even where to start so we have too. Besides, if he was working with that thing and wanted to kill us we would be dead by now. So, there must be some truth to his words.." Kai looked at Solomon. "When do we leave?"

"First thing in the morning. I talked to the nurses and persuaded them to release you tomorrow. Get some rest and recover for now. If you'll excuse me." Solomon said simply and left out of the room. Kai couldn't help but notice he seemed preoccupied about something but couldn't even start to make a guess of what it could be.

"I still don't trust him Kai." Mao said at length once he was gone.

"I know. But we should at least give him a chance, besides.." Kai trailed off noticing Irene and Lulu besides being silent during the whole time Solomon was here had now grown tense. "What's wrong?"

Irene was the first one to say something. "Moses and Karman are here."

Kai was about to ask why that had bothered them, both were soon quickly out of the door but it clicked almost instantly later. Those two didn't know that Solomon was helping them, and knowing Karman he might rush first and ask questions later.

The two Sif in question were in the middle of the waiting room, standing up and looking at Solomon. The three didn't move but the tension was pretty thick inside the room, the people in the waiting room felt it as well, which is why they were probably on edge as well. Karman and Moses didn't bring their weapons with them, but their cloaks still attracted more then enough attention to them anyway.

"Karman, Moses stop! Don't fight him."

Karman looked like he was about to do something when Irene's voice grounded him back to reality, seeing both her and Lulu come over to stop the fight. "Irene, Lulu your all right. Wait, why are you two protecting him?"

Irene shook her head. "The twins were taken away. We..need his help to find them."

Moses hadn't jumped the gun as quickly as his friend. Solomon had the scent of Kai and the others but there was no signs of a fight, which meant something was going on. "Karman, stand down for now."

Very reluctantly, the taller Sif did as he was told, still glaring at Solomon. "Fine. But after this is over, we settle this. I'll be outside." Not wanting to even be in the same building as the Chevalier, he walked outside with out another word.

"C-could you please settle down?" One of the nurses said timidly. "Your scaring the other patients."

"I'm sorry it won't happen again." Solomon said sincerely, looking at Moses as if to confirm his statement.

Blinking once for what might almost been mistaken for confusion, Moses went along with it to keep them from getting kicked out of the hospital."Yes. My friend was just in a bad mood."

Slowly, the nurse nodded and went back to work. Moses however was still at a lost of just what exactly was going on. He turned to Irene and Lulu. "Mind explaining to me what's going on?"

* * *

Around the next day, Kai was finally discharged from the hospital since they really had no reason to keep him there and he was fine physically. Solomon, true to his word had taken care of everything before hand, even as far as getting their weapons shipped along with them. It had taken some coaxing from Irene and Moses but Karman reluctantly parted ways with his spear, still not trusting the Chevalier even if their goals were the same. Kai left Ryo in charge of the pub until he returned but hadn't left an exact date of when he would come back. 

The trip to the air-port was rather uneventful, though Karman had wanted to drive and would have if it weren't for Moses interference. Due to this the ride went without incident and they _safely _reached where they needed to go. Once arriving, Solomon was nowhere to be found at the busy air-port.

Mao glanced around the sea of people. "I knew he would bail out."

"Not quite." Kai began, walking ahead towards the waiting seats. "He left a message on my cell and told me he would be a little late. For now we'll just have to wait."

"That doesn't sound half-bad right about now." Okamura sat in one of the empty seats and leaned back trying to relax before his life was once again surrounded by chaos. Sometimes he considered retiring, maybe once or twice but always dismissed it. He had his father's adventurous spirit and was unable to sit down for long periods of time, the reporter would have grown bored very quickly with a normal life.

"Irene look!" Lulu excitedly exclaimed, looking at the large window at the planes land and take off. Her face was pressed against the window as she watched, and soon Irene mimicked her friends action, watching curiously.

_It's always the little things with those two. _Kai didn't want to spoil their fun so he left them alone and instead focused on Moses who was relaxed. Karman on the other hand seemed slightly edgy once he saw the planes. It was still something he hadn't completely gotten used to, seeing Karman and Moses in 'casual' clothing was just as an interesting experience as it was the very first time. It wasn't to say they weren't well put together with their style of dress, or at least it would have been true for Karman's case if it weren't for one detail. In this case it was the scarf the owner of the mansion had given him, for lack of a better word it was hideous and Kai wasn't even a fashion expert. Most likely he had been asked to wear it and seeing him do just that must of meant he cared to some extent so he left alone.

"..So we're going to be riding one of those..things?" Karman asked hesitantly.

Kai nodded, if he didn't know any better he would say Karman was scared to fly. "An air plane. Their pretty safe, actually their more safer then driving a car believe it or not."

A skeptical look fell on the taller boy's face. "I doubt it. How does it even work?"

He shook his head briefly."I couldn't tell you the specifics. So, Keina gave you that scarf?"

"Yeah. For good luck. Why?" Karman didn't know why but people had been starring at the scarf ever since he had started wearing it. He couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing and nobody was telling him, he felt like he was being left out of a big secret.

Kai waved it off. "Nothing. It looks good on you."

For some reason Karman didn't believe him.

"Sorry for running late. I had to take care of something." Solomon came into view, wearing his trademark suit. "Is everyone here?"

"Just a minute." Okamura said. "Aren't we going on a private plane of yours?"

"That's what I was taking care of. We would have, but it was destroyed."A small frown appeared on Solomon's normally pleasant face. "And I have no idea who did it or why. But not to worry, I pulled some strings and got us all a flight in first class." The group had mixed reactions about that comment, and it did very little to help Karman's nerves or his suspicion of Solomon.

Okamura rubbed his chin, thinking. _Could that person that called have something to do with it? But if it was him why? If__he didn't want us to come and be out the way, why did he tell us? It doesn't make any sense. Arghh, damn it my head hurts. Maybe that's their master plan, give me a headache thinking._

A pleasant female voice boomed over the intercom signaling their flight was ready. "Attention. All passengers heading to the first flight too New York please come forward."

Any further conversation was halted as they went to board the plane. By now it was obvious Karman had some reservations about this whole flying thing had to take a minute to himself before following after. Not to many in Japan were heading to New York at the current time so the group was blessed with the ability not to be as cramped, which Karman was eternally grateful for as that was something he truly hated. He took a seat by Moses, who took out a book and began quietly reading while his companion seemed tense. Okamura, Lulu and Mao took seats across from them while the others claimed their own spots up ahead.

"Thank you for taking our air-line. Please fasten your seatbelts and enjoy your flight."

Karman started to relax after the pilots announcement, he sounded like he knew what he was doing. However, the plane soon began shaking and lurched forward making the Sif grip tightly at the armrest. "Why is it shaking? What's going on?" His voice had risen with out intending to as he spoke rapidly.

"It's taking off, don't worry." Moses tried to calm down his friend. He had never been on a plane either but he had read about them.

"Don't worry Karman, I read in a safety magazine once. It said we could use the safety floating devices if it crashes." Lulu assured, adding her own two cents.

"Thanks. But that only helps if we crash on water." It was unknown if Karman was being sarcastic or not but one bet on the first then the later.

Meanwhile, Kai, Irene, and Solomon had all managed to find seats for themselves. They weren't able to sit close to each other due to lack of room. Kai sat with some strangers while Irene did the same, sharing some space with a little girl around six and older woman in her fifties who was fast asleep already. Children had and still fascinated Irene, she still couldn't believe something so small would eventually grow up to be an adult. She was tempted to start some form of conversation but thought against it for now, having other things on her mind.

"You live here in Japan?"

It took a moment to realize the old woman was talking to her. "Oh. Uh, yes." The reply was a bit awkward, however, if the if the stranger noticed she made no indication of it.

She simply gave a disarming smile, hoping to relax the younger girl as if sensing her nervousness. "That's nice. We were simply visiting a few old friends, New York is our home. I'm Kayla and this is my grand daughter Amanda."

"Irene." The Sif offered. She relaxed as the conversation continued.

"Well, that's a very pretty name young lady. Your parents had some good taste in names." Kayla praised.

Irene's face seem to fall slightly. "I don't have any parents."

"Oh I'm sorry, sometimes this old woman talks to much." She said apologetically, assuming her parents had died or abandoned her. That would have only been the half truth either way.

She only slowly shook her head. "Its all right. I like..talking with you."

After this comment, Kayla seemed to take this as a sign she could continue. "Well, thank you. Its nice to see there's still nice young people in this generation."

_ Is this the right time to say it? _Irene wasn't to sure at first but it seemed right. "Thank you for saying that."

Blinking once for a minute, she chuckled seconds later. "My, aren't we very polite? No need for a thank you just yet dear. You seem to have a very pretty spirit Irene."

"A pretty spirit?" A look of confusion appeared on the blondes face, she had never heard that term.

"Yes. It means your heart and soul seem to be good." Kayla explained. "Your way of being if that makes sense to you. Maybe we will meet again in New York, I would like to see you again someday."

A ghost of a smile formed on Irene's lips. "Me to."

The rest of the flight went peacefully.

* * *

**Authors Notes: **I was trying to show Irene's social awkwardness in the lastlittle scene. Re watching theepisode when she talked with Kai,I made some mental notes to keep in mind during her conversations. Its hard work but its satisfying when it pays off. 

I like Karman (especially after seeing the episode where he admitted was scared of dying, because I could relate to that) but I couldn't help but give him a hard time in this chapter, he's just a fun character to mess with. Not to worry for Haji fans, I haven't forgotten about him, I'm just waiting for the right time.


	5. Piece Of The Puzzle

Haji didn't know what possessed him to go where he was now. Upon thinking about it further, he concluded that it was to seek help from Joel. At the moment, the Director of the now almost extinct organization current residence was here-in a rather humble medium-sized house. His new companion followed behind the silent man quietly, tail tucked behind its legs as a sign of nervousness.

It was cold that day. Haji didn't mind the cold, his body had since lost the sensation to feel heat or cold in its entirety. This could not be said for his new canine friend, who despite his natural large shaggy coat wasn't enjoying himself. Pausing, or perhaps hesitating once Haji reached the door step, he lightly knocked, and waited. A minute passed, then another, and soon the Chevalier was sure he would have to seek aid elsewhere, until the door opened. Behind it was a woman he hadn't seen before, Haji didn't give it much thought at all.

The stranger looked at the silent man. "Can I help you sir?"

Haji normal, almost blank expression never changed or wavered. He regarded the young woman calmly in a soft-spoken voice. "Is Joel available?"

She frowned. "I can't tell you unless I know who you are."

"What's going on?" Another voice entered the conversation.

Slightly caught off guard, the owner of the voice was no other then Joel himself, now slowly walking with a limp using a cane instead of a wheel chair. "Haji?" His expression seemed surprise to see him _here_of all places before he quickly recovered. "Please, come in. Your friend can come in too."

The woman stepped aside for the musician, Haji looked almost as if he would reject the offer before taking a slow careful step inside; his animal companion in tow. This residence he stayed in was rather nice, if Haji still cared for such material things. He had never been into such things, even when he had been a normal human. Joel hadn't changed to much, his hair had faded a bit due to age, or perhaps stress but otherwise, he was the same. _But then, so am I._

"Would you like me to take your cello?" The woman offered sweetly, like she hadn't acted rude in the slightest just moments ago.

Haji blinked once. Looking at the woman as if she had asked him to cut off his own head.

"I think that will be enough for now Maria." Joel said politely. "Your excused for now."

Reluctantly, she bowed slightly to them both before leaving them alone. Joel turned to address the silent Cavalier with a tired smile. "Forgive her. She meant well, its just with all the recent events she has been more then a bit paranoid. What brings you to my humble home?"

"I know little of animals." The simple response was rather vague, but was unsurprising coming from the enigma known as Haji.

Despite this, Joel didn't lose his smile, figuring he might simply need some help with the dog. "I see. I had no idea you were an dog person, Haji."

"I'm not."

The Director of Red Shield found the replies hard to build a conversation of, but in all honesty Haji wasn't exactly known to be a chatter box. He however, still took it in stride and rolled with it anyway. "Ah. Well, I happen to like dogs and owned a few when I was younger. Follow me, I'm sure we fix him up something."

Joel walked slowly towards the kitchen and while this was normal for him in his condition, his steps seemed more labored, less steady. Another thing Haji had observed silently but hadn't made comment were his eyes, Joel's eyes seemed a bit more life-drained them normal, like he was tired.

Carefully, Joel opened one of the cabinets, reaching for a can of food. He opened it with some difficulty before placing a small bowl onto the floor. Instantly like a moth to flame, the animal went over, devouring the food hungrily.

"Its good to see you again Haji, a bit surprising none the less." The middle-aged man leaned against the counter for support. "I have something I need to tell you." Haji, of course didn't interrupt and listened patiently so he went on. "The twins have been kidnaped."

This actually made the normally quite man speak. "By whom?" He had been having an odd feeling as of late, but had always demised it, but it seemed that feeling had been legitimate.

"I don't know." Joel replied, pensively. "Kai had informed me some man had given him news of the possible whereabouts of them, but didn't know much more then that. Something bad is happening, not to long ago someone had tried to take my life. I was fortunate some Red Shield members had been with me, or I might not be here right now. We managed to get some information about him, he works for something called Section X. But that still doesn't tell us much."

Pausing for a minute, he spoke in a more tired tone. "I feel a war coming Haji; one where more then one side is involved while the bystanders are used as pawns."

Haji wasn't so sure if Joel was simply overreacting or there was more to it. Joel had a good head on his shoulders for the most part, so to see him like this must of mean something was wrong. At this very moment, he was glad Saya was sleeping peacefully now. She had been through so much and she had been happy when he had told her she would have to fight no longer. He had also promised her the twins would live peaceful lives.

"We'll go together, if you want. Kai told me that they were heading to New York." Joel continued, he didn't get an exact response. But the fact Haji hadn't left meant he was likely going with him as well.

_Saya, I promised you that you would have to fight no longer.__I will fight in your steed._

And with that promise, Haji's journey with out Saya took a different path.

* * *

This was the second time the group had been to New York, of course no one thought they would be returning to the Big Apple so soon. Least under these conditions and circumstances. By the time they finally reacher their destination, it was around ten at night. They had rode a limo to the hotel, occasionally engaging in small talk but otherwise it was a silent ride all the way through.

To Kai's relief, the suite they stayed in was large enough to give everyone enough living space. If they were going to be together for a long period of time, then at the least everyone needed their own space. Not to say that they didn't enjoy each other's company to those they were close to, but everyone needed their own private time to keep from getting stir crazy. It wasn't just large and had a upper-scale feeling to it as a whole with all the quirks. Lulu didn't know what to do with herself when they first got to their temporary home.

After the initial excitement of the new place faded away, people began claiming their own rooms one by one. Except for Solomon, who was sitting on a barstool alone near the kitchen. Part of it was set up to look like a bar almost, Kai had to admit that even if he didn't care for it as much, the presentation was smooth. Who ever had made this place had really been good at their craft.

For a moment, Kai thought about leaving to go to his room but something stopped him when he looked at Solomon. There was one or two things he wanted to ask the Chevalier before he retired to his room.

He took a seat a bit away from Solomon. "Thanks for helping us, even though I know your loyalty is towards Saya and not us."

"That's only partly true." He pushed himself from his seat and retrieved a glass of wine, plus two glass bottles, placing them by himself and Kai before pouring himself a glass. "You see, Nathan once told that it wasn't uncommon for Chevalier's to bond with the Queens twins. When they were in danger, I felt a pull, or more of a tug. That's how I knew I had to go to Japan."

"I see." Kai saw Solomon about to pour him a glass, and while he normally didn't drink to much he decided what the hell and let him do it. "So, what about Saya then?"

"Saya is.." It looked like he was trying to find the right word to describe one of the most important people in his life. "My second chance. Unlike Diva, I have no real true obligation biologically towards her, yet my love was strong enough to pull me away from Diva. I love her not only for who she is, but the fact she gave me myself back."

"Did you ever really truly love Diva?" Kai asked, not knowing why exactly but finding himself more wrapped up into the conversation. It was like he was talking to Solomon for the first time and not Diva's Chevalier.

"Yes, I did, once. You may find this hard to believe, but Diva had a softer side not to many people saw and that's what drew me to her. For a time, I was happy.." Solomon looked through his glass. "Over time, Diva began displaying her true colors but by that time I was still far to wrapped up to care. I turned the other cheek when Diva did some of her more questionable acts, making excuse after excuse. I lost myself and ceased being Solomon Goldsmith and instead only Solomon the Chevalier existed in my place. I existed only for Diva. I lived only for Diva. Instead of saving lives like a doctor was suppose to, I was taking them unconsciously or not."

Slowly, Solomon stood up, walking to the large window near the balcony as the snow gently flowed to the ground. "There is a reason why I said earlier about my reason for coming here and helping were only partly true." When Kai didn't say anything, he continued. "For the first time in a long time, I am doing things for myself because I wish to. I genuinely want to help you."

This caught Kai a bit off guard. "Why?"

"You all are special to Saya's heart in one form or another..like a family. A true family." Solomon looked through his wine glass once more. "Since Saya holds you all in such high regards, then it wouldn't hurt to try to get to know you all. If there is one thing I've learned from Saya, is that her family and friends are very important to her."

They both settled into silence for a short time, then Kai spoke again. "..You know. If we had met under different circumstances, I think we might have been friends. I still don't trust you completely, but I'm going to give you a chance. Its better we try to understand each other where the other is coming from, rather then fighting all the time."

Since his back was turned, it was impossible to see Solomon's facial expression as a way to determine what he was feeling. Though before any further conversation could continue, Lulu came bounding over, or rather she made a bee-line towards the T.V., taking a spot on the floor and sitting down. Solomon saw this and smiled slightly, even for some reason it seemed a bit sad.

_Leave it to Lulu to break the tension. _Kai didn't draw attention to the fact he had noticed the slightly sad look. It wasn't any of his business anyway he told himself. "You like your room Lulu?"

"Uh-huh. Its really cool. It has one of those video.." Lulu was trying to remember the right word for it as she surfed through the channels for cartoons.

"Video games." Solomon offered gently.

"Yea! That's it. Uh..there's no cartoons on." Lulu said sheepishly.

"Try the upper channels starting at 107."

Lulu nodded after Solomon's suggestion, skimming through a bunch of boring channels, thankful that Mao's Soap Opera's didn't come on this late at night. She never understood the older girls fascination with them. She stopped on the news channel, surprising everyone. A man with black hair was talking on a podium, but instantly the Sif recognized that voice. "Its him! That guy from the hospital!"

Kai jerked from his slightly withdrawn mood the wine had made, almost instantly sobering up bit by bit. "Could you turn it up?" The small girl didn't need to be told twice, and turned up the volume. By this time, the other's had come out of their rooms, the three Sif in their dark cloaks.

"_And now we're with Dr. Thomas live from the new Section X." A female reporter stated. "This may be a large historical event in the making."_

_The camera zoomed in the stranger who Lulu identified as the person who had been talking to Kai on the phone. Highly-decorated military personnel were nearby as well. "Settle down everyone, I have an important__discovery I would like to share with mankind today.__You have all been living in ignorance for years, unaware of the dangerous foe__that's right beneath your noses."_

_Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a remote and pressed it. Instantly, a large screen behind him came to life, showing images of various monsters. The crowd murmured am_ong_themselves, not sure what to make of the scene._

_Thomas shook his head. "If this is not enough to wash you of your ignorance, then let us show you with out a shadow of a doubt what we face today. If you gentlemen would kindly show these people?"_

_A cage that was covered with a large blanket was pushed forward slowly. Quickly, the people took off the blanket and were surprised by the sight of a strange monster. At first it was sluggish, as if it didn't know where it was, then it roared, trying to swipe at its captors with its over-sized claws. Taking some strange metal sticks, a few of the military personnel prodded it with the thing, making volts of electricity__travel through its body. The roar changed that to a human scream, the monster form slowly shrinking until a girl around twelve was in its place. They curled into themselves and whimpered pitifully._

_After the shock, the reporters asked a flurry of quick questions, as well as take pictures rapidly. The camera, or rather the constant bright flashes seemed to cause the girl pain. Before long, the cage was covered again and she was carted off._

_Like nothing had happened, Thomas continued."This is just one of many subjects. What you just saw isn't a new animal or monster, but rather was a human. What makes them dangerous is__the fact they have our level of intelligence, perhaps more.__I will discuss this in further detail, but for now I must bid you all farewell. General Walter will take over for me, though he won't be answering any more questions. Just what is being done to protect humanity." _

No one said a word for a while after what they just saw, each having their own thoughts. Karman gripped his spear tightly unconsciously, the scene bringing back memories of experiments done on him and the other Sif in the past. Kai was at a lost of what to think at the moment, really what was going on?

"Have you ever heard of Section X?" Kai asked Solomon, just the name alone sounded shady.

"No." Came the simple reply. "I do remember hearing that name once before, but where I can't recall."

"He's from Khirbet."

Everyone turned to Irene expectantly after she spoke.

Moses looked thoughtful. "I don't remember seeing him."

"He was a researcher there." The female Sif continued softly. "I would only see him when we were being taught about humans, he was selective about which people saw him for some reason. But how can he be alive? I saw him die after trying to take something away from Khirbet, he was shot in the head."

Okamura felt a headache coming on once again as he put a hand to his temple. "Wait, he was shotin the head, and somehow by some miracle he's perfectly fine and alive?"

"Its not entirely impossible." Solomon observed, giving his expert opinion, being the only one with some form of medical training. "There have been cases, even if extraordinary rare about people surviving gun shot wounds to the head. But, in each and every case the victim had lost some part of their brain function. To be able to walk and function perfectly after that would mean more then just a miracle."

"He probably experimented on himself." Kai then shook his head. "I really don't care how he's alive, all I know is that he knew to much about us. Even in the hospital, from the way he was talking it seemed like he had people watching our every move. How do we know we're not being watched now?"

The leader of the Sif seemed to echo Kai's thoughts. "I agree. We need to make sure we aren't being followed or watched. Irene, could you scan around?"

Nodding once, Irene closed her eyes as everything began to be surrounded by a beautiful but at the same time eerie green glow only she could see. When she did this, she was really tracking things by using her senses which all Sif had to various degrees, but hers was the most advanced out of the remaining Sif anyway. It was harder to locate anything in such a large place so she began to filter things out that were useless to her search, many of the scents were new to her but she ignored them.

After ten minutes, Irene opened her eyes which had turned back to their normal blue. She slowly shook her head.

"Figures it wouldn't be that easy." Karman felt slightly anxious, he still wasn't comfortable with Solomon being, well there. He wanted to begin their search, both to help out and as an excuse to get away from the Chevalier for a few minutes. It was agreed upon earlier that Lulu would stay behind while the older Sif searched, even if he wasn't completely comfortable with it. In the reality of things, she was probably safer here in the suite, least for now.

"Kai, we'll be leaving now." Moses announced, knowing his friend would have a hard time sitting still considering the circumstances. Besides, they had delayed more then enough as is and time, at the moment, was the essence. From his cloak, he pulled out a concealed item that turned out to be Irene's sword. He held it out silently for her, and the girl hesitated before seeming to take back her weapon reluctantly.

"You three be careful." Kai said to the three Sif, getting a nod from Moses and Irene. Karman only gave his version of, 'We'll be fine stop over worrying' and turned to leave. She may have tried to hide it, but Kai knew something was bothering her. So, he decided to give her some simple words of wisdom his dad always gave him.

"Hey, Irene."

Irene stopped, turning to look back at Kai.

"It'll all work out in the end."

Those simple words seemed to do the trick, even if to everyone else the meaning behind them was lost. An small smile graced the blondes lips.(even if it wasn't completely visible thanks to the cloak) The trio walked to the balcony, covering their faces with the hoods before vanishing in a blue flash of light.

* * *

Blue streaks flashed briefly as the three Sif searched, moving from roof top to the next. Irene was a bit out of practice after not fighting for about a year, but she kept up with others perfectly fine for the most part. The fact it was snowing and much of the ground was frozen over with ice made landing and gaining footing was a messy affair. As such, the three used their physical abilities to their fullest potential to keep themselves from sliding off towards the cold ground below them.

Moses kept ahead of the two, his eyes calmly scanning their surroundings for anything but finding nothing. They were more reliant on Irene's senses to find something then they were of himself or Karman, which was one of the reasons she had come along instead of Lulu with Solomon and the others. He still had reservations about Solomon for now, but he was more willing to give him a chance to prove to himself; unfourtnately the same couldn't be said with Karman.

During the trip, Irene was more silent then normal, worrying the other two. There had been a reason she had hesitated taking the sword. To everyone else, it was just a weapon or a tool, but for Irene it represented more then just that, an part of her old life. It had taken lives, both of the guilty and the innocent, those deserving their fate and those who had done nothing. This deceptively beautiful blade gave her mixed emotions, holding it now felt strange and the grip wasn't comfortable in the least.

Never again did she think she would have to use this sword, yet here she was.

"Irene." Moses soft voice broke her thoughts. "What's wrong?"

She didn't immediately answer. "I never thought I would have to use this sword again."

It was partly vague, but the male Sif knew Irene well enough to know what she meant. "Your looking at it the wrong way. That blade, whether you want it to or not is apart of you, your history. Soaked in blood in might be, in the end its purpose is different now; isn't it more important to protect those you love with the sword, rather then worry about its history?"

Karman, who had been silent during the exchange, spoke up as they traveled across the city. Moses tended to get pretty deep when he was talking, so the glasses-wearing Sif would break it down in much simpler bite-sized pieces. "The way I see it, its just a tool. It doesn't mean anything, and it doesn't define you. I think that's what Moses meant."

Moses was unsurprised about Karman's own spin on it. "Not in those exact words, but the meaning more or less your right."

The 'pep' talk seemed to have the desired effect, Irene felt like a bit of the weight from everything. If she hadn't met Moses, Karman and everyone else, Irene was pretty sure she wouldn't have come as far as she had.

"What do you think of Section X?" Moses asked both of his companions, tactfully changing the spotlight from Irene.

Karman grunted once. "Not so much. Probably a bunch of science-freaks playing with something they have no business messing with. And we all know how those turns out."

Moses spied Irene, who simply shook her head, not having a real opinion just yet.

It bothered Moses more then he openly showed about that news broadcast. That girl hadn't looked like another mindless Chiropteran, instead she seemed to show genuine sentience of some sort. Were they playing god once again, creating powerful beings that were capable of thought as an weapon like the Sif? _No. Never again will I allow__another group to go through the same tragedy we Sif have suffered. _That much, he promised himself.

Then there were those strange faceless creatures that had taken the twins, what were they? If it was true what that man had said, then it meant their was a second possible enemy that yet to reveal themselves. What were they then, what was their purpose and goal? The more he thought about it, the more questions he had then answers he ended up exactly where he had started.

Not finding anything by moving through the roof tops, the trio descended to the ground, hiding their weapons with the large cloaks they wore. Since it was winter, they didn't stand out nearly as much even with their current style of dress; looking much like they were trying to keep warm. Not to many people were out on the normal bustling streets of New York, except for the occasional homeless people circled around a fire in a trash can to keep the warmth in their bodies.

Karman himself was a bit frustrated by the lack of progress. It felt like their enemy was taunting and mocking them, enjoying the fact they were running in circles blind. True, he hadn't expected to find anything so soon but that didn't do much to console him. He was about to suggest something to help speed up the search, when the answer, quite literally hit him in the face.

Annoyed, he removed a ripped piece of paper from his face about to throw it away until he saw what it said, giving him pause. The others noticed.

It seemed like their search hadn't been a complete waste of time after all.


	6. Four Way Duel To The Death

**Authors Notes: **I would just like to clear one thing up, I have watched future episodes after Riku and Irene's death. It was just after that I didn't watch the series as much as I used to, I should have been more clear.

* * *

Irene sat alone on the couch, watching the snow fall down from the nearby window closes to the balcony. The search from last night hadn't gone to well and in the end they had nothing-nothing except a piece of paper Karman had found the other day. It had been connected to Section X somehow, and now Okamura was out doing some research on with Kai. Solomon had left early that morning to further his own investigating, and it was unknown just when he would return. Karman and Moses had only stayed long enough to obtain blood, before leaving around the same time Solomon had. In the end, the only people in the house besides herself were Lulu and Mao.

She had wanted to go with either Moses or Kai but they insisted she'd stay home. Apparently, she hadn't done a good job at hiding how things were effecting her and now faced the consequences of it. The Sif felt guilty taking a day off while everyone else continued to work hard to find out where the twins had been taken, she had a harder time relaxing. Still, she supposed she should at least try to keep everyone from worrying.

"Hey Irene." Lulu greeted, coming from the corner from her room. She had on some comfortable silk-like pajamas, similar to what Irene currently wore. They had both gotten one after Julia gave them the ability to sleep; they didn't need to still but if they wanted they could. Of course, as Haji once said, dreams were never guaranteed to be good ones.

"Hi Lulu." Irene returned easily, her voice seeming slightly tired. "Where's Mao?"

"Here."

The person in question answered, wearing an over-sized shirt and some comfortable sleeping pants. She looked tired and walked a bit slowly; Mao had never been a true morning person so it was surprising to see her up around eight. She dragged herself into the kitchen, going through the cabinets for something to eat. Finding something of value, she pulled out a yellow cereal box and poured both herself and Lulu a bowl. Irene finally took a seat on the table, moving from the warm comfort from the couch; it was pretty cold even with the heater on full blast.

Mao didn't want to see Irene depressed or withdrawn, not today. So, she decided to go through with her master plan. "We should do something today. Like a girls day out." She had to speak slightly louder to be heard, due to the loud crunch of Lulu eating. That was something couldn't be helped with that kind of cereal.

By the look on her face, Irene didn't seem to know what Mao was talking about which made the older girl sigh.

"You really have to hang around me more. A girls night out is when you hang out with all your female friends, guys have the same thing to." She explained, not going into detail about what guys did, she didn't need to know. "Besides, I'm tired of being cooped up in this house all the time We're going to get plump and fat if we just sit." Mao neglected the fact that the other two females couldn't gain any weight if they wanted to.

She crossed her arms, looking at Lulu. "We can't let the men have all the fun or do all the work. Its not like we're helpless china dolls that need protecting, right Lulu?"

"Yea!" Came the reply from the peanut gallery, she had watched to much Oprah as of late.

"I don't know if we should wander by ourselves..." Irene was uncertain, but her two friends didn't seem to want to hear it.

Mao huffed lightly. "We're not kids(except for Lulu, not that it needed to be mentioned), we can handle ourselves if there's trouble. What's the worse that can happen?"

Irene was afraid of that exact question.

* * *

With a joint effort, Irene was dragged along with the two trouble makers for a day on the city of New York. Mao was the only one that required winter clothing but to better 'fit' in; her two friends dressed for the part to simply not draw to much attention. Even if she was properly dressed, Mao was still cold but did her best not to show it. Her friends didn't seem affected by the cold weather at all, an fact the daughter of the Jahana Yukuza envied a little.

Irene was simple and to the point; jacket with lighter clothing underneath. Lulu had been dressed in a heavy coat along with gloves and ear muffs; the coat was a bit overly large and looked almost as if someone could roll her down the street. It wasn't what Mao would call fashionable but it would have to do until she got the purple-haired child better clothes. Winter clothes were something they hadn't bothered with-since she rarely was affected by the different climates of the regions they visited on their travels.

Thinking about how things are now, it was funny. Mao hadn't liked Irene at first, seeing her as competition for Kai more then anything else. Over time, nothing had come out of it for both parties and gradually Mao had warmed up to Irene; just like she had become fond of Saya eventually. It was silly, now that she thought about it. That was something she wouldn't have admitted back at the time, but that was then. She and everyone else had grown up a lot since then.

Mao paused, seeing something of interest that caught her eye. It was a clothing store, but a very good one and a bit pricy for the normal person. Not that she was normal and it defiantly wasn't out of her price range considering who her father was. Again, Irene was ushered along inside of the building with Lulu tagging along in tow.

Not much Mao hadn't seen before-clothes of various styles put on display along with the name of different designers. Lulu and Irene didn't recognize the little details such as those, but they knew nice clothes when they saw them.

From the corner of the store, an employee was talking to another customer but turned to see Mao and the others. Saying some quick parting words, they went over, a pleasant, if not practiced smile on their face.

"Can I interest you ladies in anything today?" As she said this, Lulu had the urge to touch one of the statues with clothes on them, wondering what their purpose was. Mao stopped her, looking like a older sibling trying to keep a little sister from doing anything rash.

"We're just looking." Mao kept an careful eye on Lulu and Irene; more the first then the later.

"I see." The woman commented, but didn't see willing to back down just yet. "If you need anything I'll be helping other customers." Giving the unique trio a final glance, she turned and left them to their own devices.

Once she was gone, Mao turned to Irene. "Go ahead and pick something out. Anything you want. I'll help you."

The only problem was, Irene didn't really have much of an interest in fashion just as long as the clothes were comfortable. Even so, Mao had taken the time to take her out shopping so she had to pick out something, but what? Slightly at a loss, Irene went over to a clothing rack and began moving through them. Lulu was beside her, occasionally commenting on some of the clothes she thought would look nice on her. Obviously, spending so much time with Mao had rubbed off on the young girl.

Despite the input from either Mao and Lulu, Irene couldn't find anything that she genuinely liked appearance-wise.

Her hand suddenly stopped on one in particular.

It was a white dress, while simple seem to compliment her more then just physically.

"You found something?" Mao came closer to investigate what she had chosen and nodded approvingly. "Good choice."

The dress was soon payed for, not costing nearly as much as the other clothes for its relatively simple but charming design. They had no particular destination in mind, simply wandering the city and enjoying each others company. As time passed, Irene seem to finally be enjoying herself more and if only for a moment wasn't dragged down by current events. Mao was glad of this, because that was really the whole point of the girls day out, besides some more bonding and something to do.

There had been a few other things Mao wanted to cover before returning home, but due to the snow she would have to improvise since it changed a few things. She had an idea though, and soon Irene would learn why she had been told to bring the 'memory box' she had been given earlier as a gift.

Towards the end of the day, they found themselves at a café. Mao was the only one that was hungry, that and Lulu. The meal was light(for Mao) while the younger girl seemed content to devour much more then what was probably healthy for a normal girl around her age. Irene had gotten nothing to eat, instead the Sif indulged herself with something called a "Mocha". Mao had suggested it to her and she had to admit, it was pretty good.

Mao thought it was time for her trump card while Irene was still in her good mood. Retrieving a slightly faded picture from her pocket, she slid it over the table to both Sif. "Do you two remember this?"

The picture had Irene and the rest all in front of a camera, all dressed in more formal clothing. It was taken during the time of a wedding event they had attended. Due to the fact Lulu had been the one using the camera, it was a bit blurry, and the slight stain of chocolate milk from an earlier incident distorted the image further. Even after all that, it was still clear enough to be seen.

Irene smiled as she her finger traced along the picture, her hand gliding across the surface before stopping at herself along with Kai and Moses. She remembered that day clearly, it was one of her most recent and eventful memories she had.

* * *

_It had taken some work and patience, but the group had finally arrived at the wedding of a friend of Joel's. Before that had been a mess to say the least. That morning everyone had woken up a bit late, and thus slightly behind schedule which started them off on a bad foot. Then when they finally awoke it was chaotic free for all with everyone trying to get ready._

_Lulu hadn't been able to find her dress, since she was going to be the flower girl. Karman couldn't find his glasses for reasons only he knew, Kai had been running around trying to hurry things on. Moses tried to make himself useful at least, helping Kai if he needed something. Irene was to busy getting the twins situated with Mao to really help, while Okamura stood around uselessly. Something that hadn't lasted long of course, and Mao soon became the drill sergeant she was known for at times._

_As if going through similar events many times in her past, Mao got everyone in order. Helping Lulu find her flower-girl dress which had been mysteriously been hidden under her bed. Karman glasses had finally be found-right in front of him on a night stand, which answered the old question if he had really needed those glasses or not. Okamura had been put to work by Mao rather quickly when she began cracking the whip, mainly loading up the van for a few things at the wedding._

_They were unable to leave until Kaori came to watch the twins while they were gone. Most likely they wouldn't be able to watch over them as much as they could with everything going on, so it was a mutual decision to let the twins stay. _

_Once that had been taken care of, the group piled into the ancient van that belonged to Okamura that seemed like it would fall apart at any moment. Mao had asked when Okamura would get rid of the piece of crap, but the reporter refused. He was stubborn, not to mention he insisted the van was to 'classic'(Mao thought he was just cheap) to get rid of. At first it refused to start but with Karman's budding car-related skills and a push from Moses the old van came to life._

_The trip was slightly uncomfortable in the sense there was more people then what the old van usually held so they were squished together for the time being. Karman wasn't happy about being clustered up as he hated inclosed spaces but there was nothing he or anyone else could do about it._

_In the end, they got where they needed to go in one piece, thankfully without any further car problems. __Everyone was happy to pile out of the unstable "classic" van once they stopped in front of a mansion. It was where the reception would be held, and thanks to Joel's considerable influence and wealth; the wedding would be a memorable one. _

_It would be a while before everything started, so in the meantime the group hung out in the main ballroom. The whole room was decorated like it had been done by a professional, looking more like a formal occasion from back in the day; Joel had certainly went out of his way. People were already socializing, mingling and generally enjoying the company of the place. Karman looked around, then went to a corner and crossed his arms trying to become one with the wallpaper._

_Okamura soon went off into the crowd of ladies and gentlemen, while Moses ventured off to go see all there was to offer. Lulu was far more easy to please, she made herself content by going over to a long table with many delicious-looking edibles. Simple childish delight showed on her face. "There's so many! Where should I get first Irene?"_

_Irene blinked, looking at all the various junk food. She wasn't to sure but her friend was asking for her opinion so she would give it. "How about that one?" The Sif indicated to what looked like chips and some strange dip._

_Happily obliging, Lulu took a nearby paper plate, scooping some dip with a large spoon before taking her first bite with a chip. Her already big eyes seem to light up a bit more. "This is really good, you should try some Irene."_

_Mao, who had been nearby decided to intervene just in case, Irene had a ball gown and Lulu's clothing wasn't exactly cheap either. "Just don't spill anything on your dress Lulu."_

"_She'll be fine." Kai went over to the table, pouring himself a glass of punch. His hair was neatly combed back and with his tux he looked like a true gentlemen. Irene liked seeing him dress that way, even if she couldn't quite phantom why. "You two enjoying yourselves so far?"_

_Irene smiled lightly. "Yes. Its nice."_

_Lulu nodded. "This is so cool Kai. Do you get invited to these parties all the time?"_

_Kai stopped drinking for a moment, looking at her. "Not quite. These are special parties, there old held when two people who love each other want to spend the rest of their lives together."_

"_Oh.." She said, understanding but at the same time not. "I want to have a wedding to one day, I'll invite everybody!"_

_The response made Kai laugh gently. He affectionately ruffled her hair like an older brother would often do. "Maybe when your older Lulu. I'm going to check something, you three hold the fort while I'm gone." __Kai left the three for now, disappearing into the sea of people._

_Irene, Mao, and Lulu continued to talk with one another, small talk for the most part. Soon after Kai had left, two familiar from the crowd of people became visible: Julia and David. They had both been aging rather well, David looked much the same as ever, strong and silent. The difference now was that he seemed happier; lighter. His eyes had a light that hadn't been there before, or perhaps it had been hidden all along. Julia looked the same as well, and even after child birth she had managed to keep a good figure. Her clothing was of course more conservative, sporting a blue evening gown. The latest member was harder to see, an small and neatly wrapped bundle in her arms._

_Lulu almost instantly noticed the three, she brightened up as they came over._

"_Nice to see you again Lulu." Julia greeted as she came close, David simply gave a simple nod to the three young ladies. "You all look nice today."_

_Once she came closer, the small bundle she had became a bit more clear. The baby was a boy, most likely a few months from the lack of hair. Riku was the boy's name-something Kai had been deeply touched by when they asked him if it would be all right to pass the name down in honor of his fallen brothers memory._

"_Would you like to hold him?" Julia asked Irene, seeing her eyes say something she didn't speak out loud. She glanced at her future husband as if to confirm it was all right with him, but he didn't seem to mind._

"_Are you sure?" Irene asked hesitantly._

_The smile was the only answer she needed."Go ahead." _

_Gently, Riku was given to Irene and the Sif felt like she could accidentally break the small infant with even the slightest touch. Mao and Lulu practically cooed over the baby once he opened his eyes and peered at Irene with innocent, unknowing eyes. _

_Irene had never held a baby before, but she thought she must have been doing a good job because Julia hadn't corrected her just way. "Wow, he's so tiny.." Her voice was soft, if not wistful-sounding. _

"_Isn't that curious. Riku usually doesn't take to strangers holding him to well." Julia commented as she took back her child._

_David cleared his throat to get her attention. What ever the cause for it, the blonde took the hint. "I have to get going for now. You three take care, just have fun."_

_Mao watched all three of them leave before turning back to her two friends. "I still can't get over how cute he is. Irene, you ok?" She noticed Irene seemed a bit more spaced out then normal._

_It was obvious she had been thinking of something, the response wasn't instant. "I'm fine."_

_The conversation would have continued until an amusing event attracted all three of the young ladies attention. In the crowd, Moses was walking which wasn't strange or different. However, he seemed to have gotten quite a few female fans that followed him like a lost puppies. Moses looked a bit flustered with all the attention he was getting, it was almost comical seeing the normally calm Sif in such a way. Telling them one thing, Moses then hurriedly made a straight-line towards his friends._

_Despite herself, Mao couldn't help but tease him, an small smirk appearing on her lips. "Moses, your awfully popular with the girls today."_

"_I didn't ask to be." Moses said, still flustered. He knew they wouldn't leave him alone for long, they had been hounding him the whole time. They scared him for reasons he couldn't explain. He was by no means a coward, having faced Chiropteran's, and even Diva. But the predatory, almost hungry looks he got put him on edge. When they had argued over who he'd rather talk to, he made himself scarce, feeling much like an deer in a middle of a wolf pack._

_An almost terrified expression appeared on Moses' face when his fan club began making their way back towards their prey. In that moment, he thought of anything to get Away from them. _

_She could have continued to tease him if she wanted, but Mao wasn't completely heartless. The young woman sighed. "All right, I'll help. Just follow my lead. Irene, take notes." It was then the crowd of young women(stalkers) became visible._

"_Moses, there you are. You ran off before we could talk." One said._

"_Excuse me, but I think an gentlemen like Moses would prefer an Lady."_

"_What are you talking about, none of you are ladies."_

"_He's already taken." Mao tone was simple and matter-of-fact, and it stopped the arguing._

"_Moses, is that true?"_

_The Sif leader by this time regained his normal calm composure. "Yes."_

_An disappointed look came on the girls faces. Moses almost felt bad. Almost._

"_Come on Moses, our song is on." Mao then dragged him to the dance floor with a confused Moses behind her._

"_That was weird." Lulu finally said. Irene just nodded, she agreed._

"_Hey you two." Kai's voice was heard before he was seen, he was back with Okamura close behind. For some reason, the reporter looked disappointed about something. "Where did Mao go?"_

"_She's dancing with Moses." Lulu supplied. "Some strange girls were chasing him earlier though." True to her word, Moses was being taught how to dance by Mao, it was a bit awkward dance but he seemed to be catching on quickly. _

_Okamura chuckled to himself, taking a quick bite out of junk food._

"_Is that so?" Kai found the whole idea funny, he only wished he had been here to witness everything for himself. Seeing everyone enjoying themselves on the main floor gave him idea, at first he hesitated but got his nerves together. He offered his hand to Irene like an gentlemen, then spoke. "Can I have this dance?"_

_Irene didn't know what to say at first, but she remembered how other girls did it but decided to simply nod as she was then taken to the dance floor. She felt nervous, even as Kai patiently lead her the whole time. Unnoticed at first was Haji. He had blended into the crowd perfectly like he did normally and it was only now that he revealed his presence. It was strange seeing him here, but perhaps he to needed some form of interaction every once in a while. His skilled and graceful hands smoothly went along his cello as he played a soft melody. It was a different one he didn't play often, but it seemed to fit the general atmosphere of the event. The musician's from before simply he let him play at Joel's request. A true master was at work, and they had no right to interfere._

"_Relax. Don't worry to much about not being perfect, its your first time." Kai's words seem to do the trick._

_Irene accidentally stepped on his toes once, or twice. "Sorry."_

_He only smiled lightly."Hey, you're doing great. Don't be so tense." __Once she took his advice, Irene began to perform better in her dance. Everything faded away into the background except the dance, she found herself enjoying it more. After that, things passed by in a blur. The wedding went with out any other problems(except for later a drunk person singing off key at a karooke, but no one wanted to remember that) and the ceremony had been a beautiful one. Kai and his group didn't know much of anything about who was getting married, but that didn't change how the service went._

_Everyone continued to enjoy themselves, and even Karman had decided to finally come out and do something; mainly interested about Moses' whole strange affair. Haji had vanished after he was done playing, Kai only saw him one more time before he left. This continued until the evening when everyone was starting to head on home, but Lulu had insisted they'd take a picture together and luckily Okamura had brought his family camera with him._

"_Ok, stand still." Lulu, after a bit of persuading was allowed to take the picture after brief instructions of how to use it. "All right smile everyone!" For a moment, she forgot the short time-limit before the camera would flash so she quickly appeared in the group picture, just as the light from the camera flashed._

* * *

"Find anything?"

"Working on it."

For the past few hours, Okamura and Kai had been going over the little bit of information they had gotten from the piece of paper from Karman. They had camped in the library; Okamura on the public computer searching the net for anything useful, while Kai continued to look through book after book. It wasn't going to well, and Kai despite telling himself mentally it would take time found himself impatient.(hence the constant bugging of the older man)

The paper had a little bit more information about Section X, actually an old newspaper article from a few months back. It was surprising it was still around. Most of their search had been fruitless, only learning more useless information about Section X they didn't need. Most of the good information was unaccessible to civilians, frustrating both of them. They would need a hacker for the good stuff, but neither of them had that talent.

One decent piece of information they found about Section X was that it had apparently started out as a little-known medical company. Later, the company had been going out of business and was on its last legs. That was when fourteen years-ago, a war veteran named Jason Hunter bought the company, paying off many of the debts the company had owned. He wasn't sure how long it had been, but later Section X became a small sub-branch of the military. The information had been selective, only giving vague ideas about what made them so different from other branches. It mentioned something about harmless genetics.

_Harmless my ass. _Okamura mentally snorted, browsing down the web page further. It took forever to load, but that was library computers for you._ Ah. Now were getting somewhere._

The slow loading speed of the computer didn't bother him once he found some interesting results after the page finally came up. It showed a picture of that nut job from earlier, Dr. Thomas. _Useless. Ok, somewhat useful. _He quickly scanned the paragraphs, skimming over pointless information or things he already learned. Okamura highlighted most of the relevant text, copy and pasting it a simple note pad.

"Hey Kai, you got a nickle?"

Without even turning from his book, Kai tossed him a dime. "Did you find something finally?"

"Yeah. I think we finally know a bit more about our mysterious caller." Okamura printed the paper and waited for it to come out, which took to long for his taste. "Our special friend is a class A nut job, but he's an smart one. Most of the information I read just called him 'different' but you get the general gist of what he's about."

The paper that had been printed was stuck, so Okamura had to carefully take the stubborn paper from the jam. He stapled it together neatly. "We'll talk about everything when we get home."

"All right." Kai wanted to know now, but he wasn't as foolish as to talk out in the open, considering they had no clue when they were being watched.

An scream of an woman interrupted their meeting, Kai ran towards it and Okamura cursed.

"Kid, wait up!" His call went unanswered, as the reporter went after him, having a bad feeling.

Torn apart like it was made of cheap tissue paper laid the door, busted open with a terrified woman cowering from a monster. Green skin that was similar to armor covered its body, it had a lizard-like tail lined with spikes on its body, talons on its toes. Its teeth were razor sharp and visible with a long head connected to a beak. The most distinguishing were the nasty scythe-like it had instead of the usual hands.

It swung down for the kill at the helpless woman. She screamed, Kai fired.

Jolting back from the blow, the strange creature took its attention away from the closes prey who quickly crawled away. A high-pitched and bird-like shriek before focusing its wrath on the young man who disturbed its hunt.

Firing a few more times, Kai and Okamura booked it towards the other exit with a pissed off monster close behind. They went through the exit, the monster made its own by simply moving _through_the wall with out the slightest hint of slow down. Its red eyes were full of hate and violence to insane to be human or animal.

Kai thought quickly as it neared closer and closer to them. If he didn't come up with something they were both going to die, it was a lot faster then normal Chiropteran's, if even was one. Seeing an abandoned car, he came up with an idea. _Better then nothing, besides, it always works in the movies. _He loaded the handgun with a red-tipped bullet, then taking aim, he shot a few well-placed shots in vital parts of the car when the monster came towards them. Not seeing the danger, it still blindly charged them, finding out its error to late as the car exploded in flames.

Both men stopped, just long enough to see if it was still alive and to catch their breath. Kai wasn't as good of shape as he used to be after not fighting for a year. The monster was indeed still alive, but badly damaged; its right side had been blown off completely but was regenerating already. Instead of charging again, it put its head back and gave out another eerie screech once more. At first nothing happened, then it as answered by another cry, then another, and another.

More of the same type of monsters began appearing, landing in front of them and slowly began to close in for the kill. Kai and Okamura found themselves being backed up little by little with no room to run anymore, they were blocking all the possible escapes.

"This is bad." Kai knew he was low on ammo to, he kept his weapon trained on the ones in front.

"No shit?" Okamura didn't mean to curse but since he was about to die he felt he had a few liberties.

A spear suddenly pierced through the skull one of the creatures, its body shuddered a bit before going limp. It was dead before it hit the ground. Another suffered a similar quick end, a blue flash was seen, and then its body slid sideways, cut in half. Two familiar figures appeared in front of them in dark cloaks.

"Starting without us Kai? I'm disappointed ." Karman's voice was light. "What are these things?"

Moses watched the creatures carefully as they screeched in rage. "No time." And true to those words, there was none. Driven by instinct or rage, they moved in to attack the Sif. They however were a bit to slow to hit either Moses or Karman, and they both danced around each and every strike. For their credit, the monsters did seem smarter then the average chiropteran and used some basic tactics to go with their numbers. This still wasn't enough.

Scythe in hand, Moses side stepped the beast, bringing the weapon in arc to immobilize it by detaching its legs. However, he had miscalculated just where his other opponents would be and was almost sliced in two from behind. An gunshot sounded, and Moses turned briefly to see Kai had shot the one in back of him. He dispatched his stunned enemy, looking at Kai for a moment with grateful eyes, and the fight continued.

Kai was to vulnerable to directly confront the monsters, so instead he helped Karman and Moses by providing cover support. Each time any of the Sif were going to be overwhelmed by superior numbers and caught blind-sided, Kai would distract them long enough for them to be nullified by either Karman or Moses. Okamura just concentrated on staying alive, and more importantly at the moment, staying away from the fighting as best as possible.

Swift and brutal was the fight. Bodies dropped to the floor, but more took their place as the ground soaked with the life blood of their enemies. Karman thrust his weapon forward, its place finding home through the neck of one unlucky foe. Moses ended its misery by beheading it with a skilled stroke from above with his scythe, looking like the Grim Reaper with his tainted and bloodied scythe.

They worked together, cold, efficient and merciless. Their foes would spare them no mercy, it was beyond them, and so the three would give them none.

Something odd happened as the battle progressed. Blue streaks came from nowhere, but it was not the Sif. Dressed in similar uniforms with a masked face, using the same weapons only meant another foe they thought was gone. The three felt different emotions but all knew and thought the same thing.

Corpse Corps.

However, if things weren't already confusing and bad enough yet another unusual thing occurred. Blades striking against blade echoed throughout the streets of New York, and it quickly became apparent the Corpse Corps weren't here randomly. They were fighting someone, or rather something. Hard to see at first, what they were fighting came to light. The foes were humanoid, all wearing trench-coats with large melee weapons of all kinds. What really gave them away was their face, or rather the fact they had no face what so ever. The non-sentient Sif were being pushed back, their ranks being cut down without as much effort.

Even the monsters paused, as if evaluating what the biggest threats were and how to deal with them.

And then chaos erupted as all hell broke loose.

One of Corpse Corps smashed painfully head-first into another car breaking the glass, permanently embedding itself in it. The monsters numbers were now divided, having to fight Kai and his friends, as well the other two vicious enemies but they were mostly ignored in favor of the more deadly threats. The most difficult enemies were the ones with out a face, but due to being so many opponents, it was impossible for anyone to focus on any one group.

Moses parried a sword strike from a Corps, somewhat amazed how big of a gap was between their strength now. That was one of the differences between them, this creature had no soul, no heart. It was single-minded and simple, and would never have to drive to push itself(unless it was programmed) to become stronger to protect those close to them. He almost felt sorry for the creatures, but it was a chilling reminder he could have ended up as soulless as those things. Being a 'defective product' turned out be more of a blessing then a curse.

Another swing and he easily blocked and countered it, his scythe claiming his first kill. _You are my path not taken, brother. _He thought briefly, watching as the life faded from his enemy, only to evade a mace that cracked the earth under him from above. Since he was slightly caught off guard, he wasn't prepared for the faceless foe. Instead, he was pushed back from the force of the blow after blocking with his Scythe, he lost his footing for a moment and his enemy pressed the attack. Individually, Moses had a harder time fighting those creatures as they were a much greater challenge then the Chiropteran's(the monsters) or the Corpse Corps.

He looked for any sign of help but found none, Karman and Kai were to busy trying to stay alive during the onslaught to offer assistance and Okamura was of no help. Moses dueled alone with his opponent, neither losing or really gaining any ground. He felt a sharp pain in his side and realized he had forgotten his left flank during the chaotic battle.

An sword had pierced through his stomach from the same type of enemy; they're were two of them fighting him now. Moses felt his self-healing powers already kick in but knew it had its limits, if he was damaged to badly he could die unlike a 'full' Chevalier. The two were just as aggressive together as they were alone and Moses was having an increasingly hard time warding off their attacks.

_I need an opening. _Moses kept his cool during the whole time, even as the situation seemed bleak and his arms felt slightly numb from blocking blows from a physically superior foe. His prayers were answered, an sword appeared through its gut, and soon an axe cleaved into its head. No blood came from it, instead the head turned to dust as did the rest of the body when it perished.

Moses saw his saviors, surprised to see Lulu and Irene in their cloaks. It was brief surprise however and he pushed it away quickly, focusing on the task at hand. Now outnumbered, Moses enemy divided its attention between Moses and the other Sif, which proved to be its downfall.

Summoning all his strength, Moses pushed his enemy back with great force, scythe and sword locked in a struggle to over power one another. He would not be able to keep up this sort of power for his attacks for long."Now!"

Wasting no time, Irene and Lulu moved together. Blade met flesh as cold steel pushed through its stomach, keeping it still long enough for Lulu appeared above in a blue blur and bringing her axe down for another kill. Like before, it crumbled to dust.

_It seems their whole bodies get destroyed if their head is damaged enough. _Moses made a quick mental note of this, any thing at this point would be useful. The four-way battle was hard to keep track of, but judging from the bodies the chiropteran-like monsters hadn't fared well. Most of their numbers had been cut down, lying dead and beaten. Only a dozen or so remained, considerably less then before. This really just left the Corpse Corps and the nameless enemies, but luckily their numbers weren't as great.

The main problem with this battle was keeping together; their enemies did a good job at keeping them separate from one another to cut down their efficiency. In theory it worked, but there always at least two of rag-tag warriors together and it was proven they can be just as deadly in low numbers because of far superior team-work.

Moses had Irene and Lulu to worry about now, they hadn't fought in some time and while they had defeated some enemies, it had been by surprise and luck. He knew they weren't up at his or Karman's level, and he was sure they would have their hands full with the Corpse Corps-let alone the other one.

However, this was cutting down on his overall combat prowess as Moses couldn't fight at one-hundred percent. Seeing Lulu about to be hit with a mace of a faceless(Moses just decided to call them that for now), Moses pushed his body quickly to take the blow for the small girl, grunting as he flew backwards. He flew into a street light with enough force to dent the metal and sagged lightly in a boneless heap.

"Moses!" Both Irene and Lulu shouted at the same time. Lulu shot forward first to protect Moses, Irene was unable to follow before she was blocked off by some Corps. They were using the situation to their advantage, cutting them off and trying to get rid of the weaker members.

"Lulu, stay back." Moses winced as he tried to force himself up, his body ached all over at the moment and he knew he had broken at least a few bones.

"No, I won't leave you." Lulu was stubborn when she wanted to be as she tried to help the fallen Sif. Moses was about to argue with her when two blue steaks charged towards her from opposite sides and he could only give a shout of warning a second to late.

Still the blades never made contact.

Standing there was Solomon, holding both swords in his hands calmly. His black suit made him harder to see. "Are you all right?" Only receiving a nod, the Chevalier then casually pushed the Corpse Corps away; one slamming into another car while another hit another street lamp.

Solomon looked at Moses, then offered his hand. At first, it looked like he would refuse before he slowly took it and eased himself back up, still slightly winded. "I thank you."

"I had a feeling there was trouble, I'm glad I made it in time." Solomon turned towards the strange creatures. The Corpse Corps weren't new, but the others were a bit new to him.

Getting a firm grip on his scythe again, Moses felt at lost his bones completely mend even if they were still tender. He didn't trust Solomon, not completely even after that. He still needed his help however."Attacking randomly isn't getting us anywhere, and it looks like we won't be able to retreat without someone getting picked off."

"What do you suggest then?" Solomon carried the conversation calmly, absent-mindedly side stepping a tossed enemy.

"We won't get anywhere divided up like this, we need to regroup. First we assist Irene and Karman, then we try to stay together." It was an simple plan really, very simple and basic but it would serve its purpose.

The two once enemies looked at one another, mutual understanding was shared between them and a common goal. Moses, Solomon, and Lulu made their way towards Irene and Karman who were trying to defend an weakened and exhausted Kai. He didn't have the raw stamina his friends had and the pro-longed fight left him drained.

As if seeing the battle wasn't going their way finally, the Corpse Corps actually seem to finally be retreating from the battlefield. Leaving only the faceless enemies; the Chiropterans had long since been cut down. Strangely, they ceased their attack even as Moses and the others joined back up with the rest of the group.

"That's enough, come to me."

Obeying as if they were dogs, the faceless flocked to the owner of the voice. Walking calmly into view was a man in his twenties wearing shades and a long coat. His posture and stance was lazy, having both hands in his pockets. "This is the part where I'm suppose to say I'm impressed and reveal my evil plans, but that would be kind of cliche wouldn't you say? Ugly things these Nertu are huh?"

Moses and everyone else was on edge. They didn't make the first move though, not wanting to take chances. Even Karman had learned that lesson the hard way.

Kai forced himself up with Irene's support. "Are you the one that stole my kids?"

The stranger waved it off. "Naw. We'll, technically yes; Amaury is the one that took them. Kind of need them for our races future and all that. The only thing I can tell is that the Queens are safe human." He reached into his pocket, flipping a quarter and then taking a look at it. "Damn. Heads. I guess I don't have to fight you guys then for now. Later."

If you blinked you would have missed it, but both the stranger and the "Nertu" were gone.


	7. A King's Blood

**Authors Notes: **The very beginning of the chapter takes place earlier in the story. Just a small heads up, other then that not much to say.

* * *

Solomon watched the snow gently drift towards the ground with a thoughtful expression on his face. He had seen it many times, countless times actually but it was these small wonders that still gave him the greatest joy. It had been sometime since his brothers had passed, leaving him alone without a family. During those times, he began to understand how Carl must have felt. That horrible loneliness was maddening and continued to worsen the longer you stayed in that state.

_Perhaps, I, too, am lonely.._

He remembered saying those words to Saya once. And that was true. Even when his big brother was alive, he began to realize how alone he was. His family had been falling apart for a long time, and it wasn't until recently did it truly sink in. The Goldsmith family had become simply a group that shared the same blood rather then true brothers. He wondered when it had all started to fall apart and crumble beneath his feet.

_No. Our family hasn't been a true family in a long time. _

Saya. That was the only thing that kept him going, and the only thing that kept the horrible loneliness at bay. But it wasn't enough. Saya slept for years, and during that slumber he would try to bury himself in work but he didn't have her by her side. Perhaps, that was the reason he had gotten involved in the twins life, if not directly. It was probably the reason he had decided to help Kai and his friends. In some way, he supposed he was trying to feel a void that Saya's absence had left behind.

"Are you ok?"

Solomon felt a tug on his pants, and looked behind him, or rather down at the child-like Sif known as Lulu. "I am fine. Are you enjoying things so far?" This was the first time he had talked to her, or any of the Sif really that he could recall.

She bobbed her head up and down in affirmative. "Yup. Thanks for the video game Mr."

A small, if not slightly sad smile crossed his features. The one he used often. "I don't think I have gotten you're name. Lulu, was it?"

"Uh-huh." The girl's attention had seemed to shifted to something else already, her face pressing against the window of the balcony to witness the snow. "Wow. How where does snow come from?"

"From the clouds." Solomon looked out, wine glass still in hand. "Once the air gets cold enough, snow is formed. But normally, you often get rain."

"Really? Then, where do the clouds come from?"

"Clouds form when water evaporates and goes into the air. Have you noticed that water vanishes if you spill it and leave it alone long enough?"

She nodded, and he continued. "That's mother nature doing her work. It's apart of our planets natural cycle."

Lulu looked slightly puzzled. "I get the cloud part. But who's mother nature?"

Amusement was clearly shown on Solomon's eyes, and this time he smiled which was just a little bit less sad then his usual one. "Mother nature isn't a person, Lulu. It's a figure of speech used to describe the natural way our world works."

An small 'o' came from the child, but Solomon wasn't sure if she truly comprehended what he had said to her.

_She barely knows me, yet she's being so kind to me..Brother, did you truly create such beings that can feel like us just so you can later discard them?__She reminds me.._

"Mr. Solomon." The Sif began, interrupting his musings.

"Solomon is fine."

"Uh, you know a lot about these kinds of things.." Lulu fiddled around a bit. "So, maybe you could teach me more?"

Solomon nodded. "I would be more then happy too. If there is anything you don't understand, don't hesitate to ask me."

Kai watched from his spot, having come back from his room. He thought about going over there but dismissed it and went back inside. He would let the two bond if they wanted to.

* * *

Everyone had returned back home with low spirits after that night.

The whole affair had been draining more then just physically, and now the rag-tag group of heroes came to lick their wounds. They knew the twins were alive at least, but they still remained just as out of they're reach as before, so close but yet so far away. They were in the city obviously, but finding them proved to be much harder task then one would think.

To make matters worse, Kai and the others were brought in for questioning by an police officer. Apparently, despite the fact the streets had been eerily deserted, someone had called in some suspicious figures. Everyone who had been in the scuffle was there, save for Solomon who hadn't been around during the incident. Hopefully, he would be able to get everyone out of this mess before it became a real problem.

Kai waited in a chair alongside Okamura in a questioning room as they waited for the officer to come back. The others were on they're own, but Lulu didn't seem to be in any serious trouble but stayed anyway. Okamura didn't seem bothered, he was leaned back into his chair with a bored expression on his face. From his body language and general mannerisms, one would think he was going to a trip to the dentist rather then being questioned a police station.

"Aren't you at least a bit nervous?" Kai said, slightly irritated by his friends lack of worry.

"Naw." Okamura grabbed a doughnut from the table. "You see, you might find this hard to believe but I've been to the police station a couple of times."

_Not really. _Kai thought, but kept it to himself.

"So, it might not be come to a surprise to you that your old buddy here knows a thing or two about the law." The reporter bit into his doughnut, chewing. "Way I figure, they got nothing solid to tie us in. The best they got was that we were there, so most likely they just want some questions on what we seen. I mean C'mon, it's Chiropteran's we're talking about. Not something police are used to even if its not a secret anymore."

Kai frowned. "There's one thing that's been bothering me. The Chiropteran's we fought didn't look like the ones we fought before. Why is that?"

In response, the older man shrugged. "Hell if I know. If we had Julia here it make things easier but since we don't, we're shooting in the dark."

Further conversation immediately stopped when the door opened, stepping through was an older cop in his forties. "It seems your story checks out, so we're done for now. Before you go, someone would like to talk to you."

The person who stepped in was the person they least expected: Dr. Thomas stood in the doorway.

Giving a brief nod to the 'doctor' the cop left the three alone.

"I have to say, that was quite sloppy work you're group did." Thomas said somewhat distastefully as he sat down at the other end of the table. "I had to pull some strings just to keep you're miserable lives out of trouble."

Kai wanted to leap across the table and strangle him, but kept a hold of himself. "Why are you helping us?"

The doctor blinked once, as if hearing a stupid question. "If you go to jail, then it ruins my chances of retrieving the specimens. Consider it mutual interest rather then genuine concern of your actual well-being."

"I'm slightly surprised you're still alive." He continued, looking at Kai. "Then again, I suppose I shouldn't be, all things considered. You had you're defect friends help after all."

Instantly, Kai knew he was talking about the Sif. While he had mellowed out, he still of course had a temper when it came to his friends. "Shut the hell up, what do you know?"

"Apparently, more then you." Thomas chuckled, standing up. "I'll admit, the Corpse Corps performance the other night was..lacking. That will soon change however. They've become obsolete tools, as last night has recently proven. If you'll excuse me, I have things I need to take care of." Without another word, he left the two to their thoughts.

_Obsolete tools huh.. _For some reason, even if the Corpse Corps weren't truly sentient like the Sif, the fact they could be discarded so easily like trash bothered Kai. It reminded him to much of that SOB Amshel. Kai almost shuddered at the unpleasant memory.

"Not exactly a winning personality." Okamura finally said, once he was completely sure the crazy man had left. "We should get going before our friend comes back."

"Yeah.." Kai voice was somewhat distant. He did however finally move from his spot, heading out the door where the group was waiting patiently. Karman was there, looking displeased and slightly irritated about one thing or another. Irene, Lulu, and Mao were there as well sitting across one another on the seats. Moses was to the side, arms crossed with his head slightly down, an pensive look on his face.

Solomon was there as well. If it wasn't being questioned that was bothering Karman, then it was likely being stuck close to Diva's Chevalier's presence.

Moses looked up once Kai and Okamura came closer. "How did things go? Are we in the clear?"

"We're fine for now. Next time we just have to be more careful."

"You act like we had a choice." Karman muttered, wishing he had his cloak so he could cover his head. What was the point of these human police stations? They didn't seem to be able to do they're job and go after the real bad guys anyway.

"Karman.." Moses warned in a low tone, causing the taller Sif to relent, if only slightly. He knew that tone as 'I'm-not-in-the-mood' and didn't want to press his luck.

"..Its not you. This place is just irritating." Karman said finally. It wasn't an real apology for most people, but it was the closes thing Kai could get from him and he couldn't complain. He had come a long way after all

"Kai...are you...ok?" Irene asked after a moment, he really did seem troubled.

"I'm fine Irene." He lied, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Lying about how he was really feeling for everyone else. "They didn't question you to, did they?" He directed the later question to Solomon.

"No. I came to help Mao and Irene while they were being questioned." Solomon glanced briefly at the only child of the group. "Naturally, Lulu was the only one besides myself that wasn't brought in for questioning. I was going to assist you two but someone beat me to it."

"Dr. Thomas." Kai almost spat out the name. Just bringing him up got him in a bad mood, besides the fact he wanted _his_kids, something about him irked the young man to no end.

"He was here?" Mao questioned. "The happy science freak we saw on the T.V.? I didn't see him come in or leave."

Moses frowned a bit "Neither have I. And that's what troubles me. We're close to the only entrance and exits, there's no possible way we could have missed him. In either case, it would best to continue this conversation elsewhere."

Kai didn't know what they were going to do for they're next move and his mind had drawn a complete and utter blank. They still didn't know anything about the enemies that controlled those things called Nertu's. Again, they were almost back to where they started at the very beginning which was making him feel like they running in circles, or maybe a square was more accurate. You would think you where going somewhere for a minute, only to find out you haven't gotten any further.

The first order of business was leaving the station; which the group had no problem doing as everyone wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Solomon wasn't paying attention to what the group was doing, not as much when he picked up a vaguely familiar scent. He knew who it was; Dr. Thomas wasn't to far from here and it was time to pay him a personal visit.

"I'll catch up with everyone later." Solomon announced.

Karman eyed him a bit. "And just what's so important you have to leave so suddenly?"

"Its none of our concern." Moses interrupted before it could turn into anything. "He'll return to us on his own when he's ready."

Giving the Sif leader a grateful nod, Solomon left the group and headed into one direction.

Him and the 'Dr' truly needed to chat.

* * *

Solomon tracked him down to a small park. It wasn't to busy and only a few children and adults were scattered around the area. Not to much, but enough people to prevent either of them from fighting out in the open if they wanted to keep their secrets in tact. He stopped walking, stopping behind Thomas who was sitting on a bench.

"Mind if I sit here?" He asked, his ton surprisingly polite.

"Its not taken." The other man replied simply, an careless tone. Solomon sat on the opposite side of the bench, neither side said nothing for a while.

Writing something down in a personal journal, he spoke in a casual tone as if they weren't enemies."You're Solomon Goldsmith. I had thought you had died, but it seems you're very much still alive. I wonder, what kind of man can survive such a large fall from two stories?"

Solomon knew what he was doing. He was challenging him. Since they couldn't fight physically yet, he resorted to wits and word play. Which was fine. This Chevalier was more then used to such things.

The blonde-haired man gave back a small smile. His fake one. "The same man that apparently survived being shot multiple times in a very vital area. It seems we were both blessed with good luck."

"Luck. Is that all it is I wonder?" Thomas didn't seem to directly address him. "This world is full of strange beings that hide behind a personal shell."

"But usually those very individuals who accuse are strange themselves."

"Aren't we all strange Mr. Solomon?"

"Not as much as you'd like to believe."

Finally, Thomas chuckled. "I think that's enough of that. What do you want?"

"Answers." Solomon said. "How did you discover about the twins? There should be no way you would have known, at least during you're disappearance."

"As I said, I have eyes around where I need them. That's all you need to know. I find something funny though.."

Solomon frowned a bit. "And what might that be?"

"The defects, or you might know them as the Sif are still alive." Solomon said nothing, and he went on. "Perhaps there is more to those defective products then I realized if they have survived so long. Lulu is pretty interesting, being an child technically raises many interesting questions I-"

"You will leave Lulu alone." This time, Solomon dropped his gentlemen demeanor.

"Or what?"

"If not, the next time we meet; I'll kill you. Personally."

Irritated, Dr Thomas turned away to face him just this once. But the spot Solomon was at was empty, leaving nothing behind but a light breeze and the gentle descent of the leaves.

* * *

Irene wasn't sure what had happened, but when Solomon came back he wasn't in the best of moods. He hid it fairly well, his posture was the same, even his voice had the normal calmness to it but she could _just_tell. It was simply the feeling he gave off. And add to the fact Irene was pretty observant made it more then concrete. Either way though, he wasn't talking about it and the female Sif wasn't one to push, especially to someone she was still a bit unsure of.

Back in the apartment, everyone had retreated to their own personal space: Karman and Moses for once took a small break from their searches, Lulu was watching T.V. but didn't have her usual care free expression. Mao and Okamura she wasn't sure where they were at, but knew they were still inside; their scent was still strong.

Seeing the silent Kai, Irene made her way over, taking a seat on the bar area. She didn't say anything, not because she didn't want to but lacked the words. It was these times her upbringing(or lack of) became very obvious. Still, she had to try.

"Kai." She said softly.

Kai didn't immediately answer, at first. "I was thinking of something. Sorry didn't hear you at first. What's on you're mind Irene?" He turned and smiled at her, but she always knew when he was forcing it.

"You can't take the blame for everything, Kai." Kai looked a bit surprised, but she went on. "Don't forget, we're here for you. You have a habit of taking the blame for everything and then bottling up how you feel."

"That's not.." Kai didn't expect this from Irene, though he _shouldn't_have been surprised. He had seen this side to her a few times, and he knew she really wasn't stupid. Even so, he didn't know how to respond, because she had hit the mark. Finally, he smiled a little. "Ok Irene, I'll try not to."

Irene nodded, seeming to accept the answer and left it alone. Then after a moment she spoke up about something that had been bothering her. "That man with those things, he felt different."

Used to the way she talked at times, Kai put two and two together. "You mean that guy that had those Nertu?"

"Yes.." Irene was quite for a moment. "He felt like Saya."

Moses and Karman who had been discussing something between themselves took interest in the conversation. They had enhanced senses as well but had been unable to tell that anything was different(besides the obvious) perhaps it was because Irene's was more advanced out of the remaining Sif.

"Like Saya, how Irene?" Moses questioned patiently.

"His blood is like Saya's, and felt similar. Its not a Chevalier it was.." Irene tried to come up with the proper way to describe it. "Pure."

At the announcement, the three thought over a number of things. Each having their own thoughts about the subject but all coming to the same conclusion.

Moses' voice confirmed their thoughts. "So, this means then, that we're dealing with an Original, or Originals. Only their male."

"That doesn't make any sense." Karman was skeptical about the whole thing. "Aren't Queens the only original ones?"

"Remember, we don't know everything there is to know about the Chiropteran race. For all we know, there could have been males at one point." Moses paused. "However, we would need someone like Julia for something more concrete seeing as this is her field. But if this is true, then we are dealing with Kings."

Everyone was silent, but Kai felt a sense of dread. "Then does that mean they took my girls so they could restart their race when their older?"

While Moses thought that was the most logical answer, he held back not wanting to upset his friend further. "We can't know either way now." He replied tactfully.

The doorbell rang, temporary putting the conversation on hold. Mao, who had been closer because of her room went over. "I'll get it."

Opening the door were to familiar faces. One was the stoic and never changing face of an immortal being, while the other was less then perfect; walking limply with a cane. Though, neither of them were to be underestimated.

Coming into the suite, one of them; the head of Red Shield known only as Joel smiled a bit at Kai. "Good afternoon Kai."


	8. Evolution Of The Pawn

**Authors Notes**: Sorry for the long wait, I should Hopefully have a decent update time after this but no promises.

* * *

The reactions of Joel's and Haji's arrival were mixed at best. Karman and Moses seemed, for the most part indifferent to what was going on, though the later gave a nod of acknowledgment in their direction. Lulu seemed strangely or not happy to see the ever-silent Chevalier with his cello, while Kai roused to greet them and Irene quietly stood up, saying nothing. Mao and Okamura weren't present at the current time, so it was anyone's guess what their reaction may have been.

Predictably, everyone was wondering how a certain mild-mannered blond would react to Haji's presence. Solomon had locked eyes with his counter part but didn't seem hostile as others may have been expecting, instead there seemed to be a understanding between them. Joel noticed the somewhat awkward tension that he and Haji's sudden arrival had caused, and decided to break the ice.

"We'll, I would like to say this was a friendly visit, but we all know that's not the case." Joel began but Kai gave a half-smile anyway.

"Yeah, me too Joel. But what the hell, right? Let's take this to the living room." Kai was trying to be casual about the whole ordeal but his act wasn't fooling everyone, at least not Irene. She frowned lightly, mouth forming a small thin line. But this wasn't the place to bring it up. She would wait.

Joel moved further in the suite in his wheel chair, Haji's silent walk just by his side as he set a bag down in the corner, holding a few things they would need. This place was indeed nice, he knew the rag-tag group of warriors had Solomon to thank for that. He wondered why Haji and Solomon didn't seem to mind each others presence, or for that matter the rest of the group. At the moment he patiently waited for things to be explained to him.

After making sure everyone was gathered and present in the living room, Joel got straight to business.

"I'm sure you have heard about people turning into chiropteran's, and some that even seem to have some intelligence. Me and Haji talked to Julia a little bit before coming here and found out something..startling. You see, while it seems someone else is making Chiroteran's, there is a new element as far as the other ones go. The ones with sentience. Haji, if you please."

Haji made no verbal or physical sign he had heard Joel, instead simply going to the bag he had slung around his shoulder earlier, setting it down. With his wrapped hand, he retrieved what looked like a picture not that different from Okamura's, except this one seemed recent. Joel politely thanked him before passing it around, first to Kai who looked puzzled.

"Okamura had shown us something like this earlier." Kai was a bit puzzled now looking at the picture, it seemed be of the same skeleton structure of Saya and Diva's mother, but it was different. It seemed more heavy-set.

"Oh?" Joel asked, genuinely interested.

"Yeah." Kai went on. "We didn't know what it was at first either."

"We have a idea what it might be." Moses calm voice cut in. "Last night we were involved in a battle with strange creatures, two we do not know. Of them, there was a third, they were the Corpse Corps. Just before the battle ended, a man appeared and Irene sensed he was like Saya. Only male."

To this, Joel did seem troubled, Haji's passive face gave away almost nothing unless you knew where to look in the first place. "I had thought as much when Julia explained it to me, but now we have further proof that is the case."

Slightly impatient with all the talking, Karman wanted to get to the point. "You were saying you know something about these new Chiropteran's?" He asked, trying to be patient but wanted Joel to spit out the news already.

Moses gave him a look, but otherwise said nothing to reprimand him.

"Yes." Joel took the picture back once every one was done looking. "Julia has been doing some research and found some interesting new information about the Chiropteran race as a whole. It turns out, they are actually a evolution of man. It's unclear exactly how this happened, but its believed they once lived in greater numbers among humans long ago. And unlike today, there was at a point natural born males instead of just females as we see today."

"Chiropteran's related to humans?" Karman frowned, skeptical. "I don't buy it."

"But it makes some sense, doesn't it?" Irene spoke softly, speaking up for the first time. "Why else would humans change into Chiropteran's? Even ones that hadn't been experimented on?"

Karman wanted to say it was just something else, but at the time he couldn't think of a proper way to reply. Instead he relented, ever so slightly. "Maybe. But I still don't buy it for now."

"Please continue." Moses said, looking at Karman. "I trust you'll at least wait until Joel is finished?"

In response he half-shrugged. "Don't let me stop you."

Clearing his throat, the head of Red Shield went on. "As I was saying, there were male and female Chiropteran's born naturally However, Julia firmly believes something happened to the male population, because it's the only way that makes sense why they would need to make Chevaliers in the first place. Humans have a dormant gene in them that causes them to mutate, or if one prefers, 'evolve' to a Chiropteran. "

"Because of this common gene that allows human to change in such a matter, Julia and others are starting to believe we are in fact related. It's unclear why they would loose their human intelligence if this truly is the case. But it has become more apparent that there are others, people who are changing into Chiropteran's but keeping their intelligence."

"We heard about that on the news." Kai replied, but now more then ever he was confused, and judging by some of the facial expressions of the group, so were they. "So let me get this straight. The people that are changing are doing it naturally. "

It was enough to make Kai's head hurt.

He moved a hand through his hair, something he had picked up from Okamura. '_This is becoming more complicated then it needs to be.' _He thought to himself.

"Correct." Joel continued, wrapping it up. "That being the case, it means not all these Chiropteran's will be our enemies. More then likely, many of them are scared and confused about the sudden and drastic transformation. They may not be directly malicious but their sudden need for blood and newfound powers makes them dangerous. Red Shield is doing the best to salvage this situation, unfortunately the public now knows about it."

"Dr. Thomas.." Solomon spoke in a low tone, not hiding his disdain for the doctor. "He'll use this situation to his own ends, that much we can be certain of."

Truthfully, Joel had almost forgotten Diva's ex Chevalier was there for a moment. "Ah, yes. He was one of the scientist that helped create the Sif wasn't he? But, how is it that he lived? When Red Shield looked through the abandoned lab, it made it quite clear he was shot many times in vital areas."

"I don't know. All I know is that bastard has my girls. He thinks they're some kind of specimen he could simply look over and examine." Kai spat, and Irene, knowing he was upset tried to put a calming hand on his shoulder, relaxing him. "Sorry, that guy just really gets under my skin."

"It's understandable." Joel replied, knowing Kai was one of the people taking all this the hardest, the young man put to much pressure onto himself. "Red Shield is doing what it can about these new humans turning Chiropteran's that maintain their human self. If we are fortunate, we can avoid fighting many of them ourselves. We have found where one of the associates of Dr. Thomas is staying at, I think we should pay him a visit."

"Where?" Kai asked suddenly, feeling his heart pounding. He didn't want to look too anxious yet he couldn't help it.

"It's-"

* * *

"In this crappy place?"

It was Mao's shrieking voice(In Okamura's opinion) that had brought him out of his semi deep thought. He had what she had called the 'After Hour' shave, thanks to over thinking and not as much sleep as he would have liked. Dr. Thomas associate wouldn't be seeing them if he could help it, so they would have to find 'other' ways of getting in. Instead of the whole group going, it was decided himself, Mao, Moses, and Lulu to stay behind. The later two for their own protection then anything else.

_So if we were suppose to be staying home. How the hell did I get dragged along?_

Those were the thoughts of the reporter, wondering how a nice relaxing evening with him maybe eating some pizza and watching T.V. Was turning into a potential death trap. Mao could be _quite_ persuasive at times, but still he had considered himself immune to such charms, or at least Moses. But yet here he was, about to throw himself into Kami knew what. Honestly, he didn't get paid enough for this.

Oh, that's right. He _didn't._

But no use complaining too much, right? So he guessed in the meantime he could at the very least look like the idea didn't scare him. When they had learned their 'secret' passage to get inside where they needed to lead through a sewer(hence, Mao's hesitance) then he could only feel a small bit of triumph.

_' There really is a god.'_

Cheerfully, perhaps too cheerfully, Okamura spoke up. "We'll I guess this means we'll be going home right?"

Mao's glare was his answer. He knew that stubborn look from anywhere.

"No. It just means we'll have to be careful."

Once again, Moses tried to be the voice of reason. "Are you sure you wish to go through with this? We have no idea what's down there, and chances are there could be more of those mindless Chiropteran's and those other creatures laying in wait for us."

"That's why we have you two." Mao ruffled Lulu's unruly purple hair. "If we run into any of those things, you guys can take care of them. Besides, you don't want to just sit and wait while the others do all the work do you?"

"So, I don't count as protection?" Okamura asked, not really caring but wanting to know anyway.

Mao crossed her arms. "What protection?"

"Harsh."

It reminded Moses of the times he had to deal with Karman's impulsiveness, but like his fellow Sif, her heart was usually in the right place. He ignored the banter between the two, knowing it was really to relieve the tension. "If I can't persuade you to stop, then I have no choice but to follow. Keep in mind if things do get to bad, I will drag you back."

She saw that as a challenge, but even Mao had a limit to her stubbornness and if things really Did get that bad she supposed she shouldn't stop him. "All right, fine." Without further comment, she went to open the hatch leading to the sewers. One by one they followed each other down until Okamura was the last one standing above. Maybe if he stood still, she wouldn't be able to see him and forget that he was here.

"Okamura come on, you're waisting time."

So much for that idea.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." He checked his backpacking, making sure his flash light was secured before climbing down. All the while he just hoped it didn't collectively bite them in the ass.

* * *

It had taken some work on Joel's and Moses part, but they managed to hurriedly make a plan of some kind in a matter of a few hours. Tonight would be a social-gathering of sorts, so they would have to sneak in by posing as another guest. Naturally, this had begged the question of just How they would do that, but Joel had said not to worry about it.

In the end, the quite man had done pulled some strings, but it hadn't come without a price. It was thought it was best they disguise themselves as someone else, so with the help of one of Joel's friends they had all gotten a 'makeover'. Not a traditional one, but one that was needed to disguise their physical appearance. They also had a cover story to go with it if anyone asked.

Kai and Irene were made to 'look' older then what they appeared, and instead of his messy red hair, it was _now _messy black hair. Irene was given the same treatment, her blond hair at the moment was now that of a deep brown, with matching contacts. They were supposed to be a 'married' couple—something he knew Okamura would tease them about if he was here. Fortunately, the person driving them by the name of Lewis was a good enough substitute. Karman had simply gotten brown contacts and blond hair.

Haji had been given dark red hair, and now, if anything, looked younger. Solomon hair and eye color had stayed the same, but the make-up and the like made him appear almost like a different person. Lewis had pointed out quite humorlessly, that the silent chevalier now resembled a certain mascot from a popular American fast food chain.

Unfortunately, few got the joke.

"Don't worry too much about it." Lewis was keeping his eyes completely focused on the road as he drove them a limo, truthfully he hated the things but they had to look the part. "Just remember everything we went over and you'll be fine."

It had been rather bizarre having Solomon there, but after taking everything in he guessed it wasn't so strange after all. The only thing he found odd was that Haji didn't seem to mind his presence, then again, there were _a lot _of occasions Haji didn't openly show his emotions. From what little the two had spoken together had been civil; if not a bit one-sided.

"I just wish we could get better names. I mean, Mike and Jane Smith for our cover? It's pretty average." Kai knew he shouldn't be complaining too much, after all it was just a means to a much better end, but even so.

"I don't believe the name is that bad, certainly no worse then mine or Haji's." Solomon assured him, though he didn't say what his or Haji's 'names' were going to be.

"No worse then Fred.." Karman muttered under his breath.

"Yeah, I guess." Kai shifted the topic away from that subject as he noticed that Irene seemed rather nervous. "You nervous Irene?"

It almost seemed like she was surprised to be talked to. "Oh..I'm sorry, I was just thinking. I was trying to remember everything, I don't want to mess up."

Lewis couldn't help but over hear the conversation anyway with so little distance between them. "Like I said Irene, just remember the basics and you'll be fine. Besides.." He stopped at a red light. "If you really get nervous, Kai can always hold your hand."

With Irene's nature, she seemed all but oblivious to the teasing, Kai however, was turning red as his previous hair color. "H-hey what's that suppose to mean huh?"

The big man shrugged. "You know what it means." To Kai's relief, he had dropped the issue and hadn't further commented on it. The place they were suppose attend was crowded to say the least, who ever this 'associate' of Dr. Thomas was, he must have been important.

Lewis stopped the limo, managing to find a decent parking spot towards the out skirts of the main parking area. "You guys know what to do. I'll be waiting right here."

"Thanks Lewis, we owe you one." Kai stepped outside, holding a hand to help Irene. Karman and the other two males followed after them.

"You kids play nice now." Called Lewis' voice after them. Kai couldn't help but feel it was directed more at him and Irene again, but with Lewis you never know.

Unnoticed to the four, someone else was watching them. The very same person from the other night that had called off the Nertu. He was dressed in a black suit that made him blend in with the crowd. Reaching into his pockets, he once again pulled out a quarter and flipped the coin, catching it to reveal which side it fell on.

"Tails."

It looked the night wouldn't be so boring, after all.

* * *

**Ending Notes: **It's not the longest chapter to be sure, but I felt it was about time and instead of stalling, it was time for another one. Not to worry, Solomon and Haji not minding each other will be explained better later, as will a few others. I'm terribly sorry for taking so long. Now I have to work o my other stories I've been neglecting. Just consider this a 'set up' chapter. The next will be longer.


End file.
